SAN ANTONIO — 21 is a monumental number for Spurs fans.
Worn by the team's G.O.A.T. player, Tim Duncan, whose jersey casts a shadow from the rafters of the AT&T Center, the number is now looming over the Silver & Black in another way.
The Spurs have made 21 straight postseason appearances (a run that includes five NBA championships), and one writer predicts that historic streak comes to an end during the 2018-2019 season.
ESPN NBA Insider Kevin Pelton wrote an article this week predicting the outcome of all 30 NBA teams, including a bleak estimation for the Spurs this season.
Pelton believes the Spurs will finish 10th in the Western Conference with 38.5 projected wins, which would be the worst season the team has seen since 1996-97. That season, the Spurs won 20 games, as well as the #1 pick in the draft next year (when they drafted #21 himself, Tim Duncan.)
The Spurs went through some major changes this offseason, losing several key players, including all-time great point guard Tony Parker, while bringing in a new star in DeMar DeRozan. Apparently, Pelton believes the sea change will negatively affect the Spurs.
And as if to rub salt into the wound of Spurs fans, Pelton believes that a 55-win Toronto Raptors team will take the number one seed in the Eastern Conference behind a resurgent season from Kawhi Leonard, whom the Spurs traded to Toronto following a tumultuous season for the former Spur (at least off-the-court, as Leonard missed all but nine games battling his lingering quad injury.)
Without Leonard last year, the Spurs finished 7th in the West with 47 wins.
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ESPN posted Pelton's projected playoff matchups to Instagram, which drew harsh criticism from Spurs fans (and Lakers fans, who were equally as frustrated with the absence of their team following the signing of LeBron James this offseason). And one Spur responded to the Instagram post.
Calling the rankings "#fakenews," Rudy Gay wrote "@espn make sure y'all remember this during the season. Imagine a playoff without the @spurs."
Judging by the comments on ESPN's Instagram post, Spurs fans apparently would like to see the cards fall in their favor and hit on 21, continuing the team's streak of success unrivaled in sports.