ESPN's NBA Rank 2026 landed this morning, and the San Antonio portion of it went about how you'd expect at the top: Victor Wembanyama ranked high, no argument from anyone with a television. The interesting part of the Spurs NBA Rank 2026 conversation isn't him. It's everybody listed underneath him.
That's the shift. Two years ago the exercise was "how high do you dare put the 7-foot-4 rookie." Now it's a roster question, and roster questions are the ones that decide whether a team is a fun League Pass stop or something heavier.
What is ESPN's NBA Rank 2026?
It's the annual preseason list, top to bottom, and it doubles as a temperature reading on how the league's evaluators feel about a roster before anybody plays a game. Nikola Jokic held the No. 1 spot for the third consecutive year, which at this point is less a ranking than a standing order. Five internationals headline the top 10, and if you'd pitched that sentence to a 1990s NBA fan they'd have asked you what sport you were describing.
The list also produced the usual arguments. Luka Doncic landed above Jalen Brunson and New York took it personally. Kawhi Leonard came in at No. 15. Cooper Flagg, one year into his career, checked in at No. 23. Julius Randle sits two spots ahead of Jaden McDaniels, which is the kind of placement that keeps Minnesota radio employed through October.
| Confirmed slots in NBA Rank 2026 | Rank |
|---|---|
| Nikola Jokic | 1 |
| Kawhi Leonard | 15 |
| Cooper Flagg | 23 |
Where the Spurs actually sit
I don't have the full list slot by slot in front of me yet, so I'm not going to put a number next to a Spur I can't verify. What I can tell you is what the framing itself says: the story being written about San Antonio is Wembanyama plus a supporting cast worth ranking, and Stephon Castle is the name attached to it.
That's a real change. Castle won Rookie of the Year for the 2024-25 season, and he won it as a guard who defends grown men, which is not the usual profile for that trophy. A year later he's no longer a curiosity on a lottery team. He's the second name people reach for when they describe the Spurs, and second names are how contenders get built. Ask anybody who watched a 1990s roster try to win with one star and a prayer.
What comes next for Wembanyama and Castle
Wembanyama's 2024-25 season ended early after he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right shoulder. Everything since has been about availability, because with him the ceiling was never the question, the calendar was. A full season of him inside a defense is the single biggest variable in the West and it isn't close.
For Castle, the sophomore-to-third-year jump is where guards either become decision-makers or stay finishers. The shot is the tell. If it holds up while he's also the point of attack defender, San Antonio has two players the league has to game-plan for instead of one.
And the honest counterpoint to every preseason list ever published: these things are a snapshot of belief, not evidence. Flagg at No. 23 after one season is a projection wearing a ranking's clothes. Kawhi at No. 15 is a health bet dressed as an evaluation. Nobody's been graded on anything yet.
What I'm watching next is simple. Whether the Spurs' internal hierarchy on the floor matches the one on the page, and how San Antonio stacks its minutes around Wembanyama when he's in the game versus when he's resting. Lists are opinions. Rotations are decisions.
checked the almanac: three straight years at No. 1 for Jokic means the list has now spent longer agreeing on him than most of the league spends agreeing on anything.
