Last year, rumors churned that the San Antonio Spurs could abandon the Alamo City in favor of the City of Austin some 80 miles to the northeast.
While Spurs ownership shot the rumors down and assured fans that the franchise wasn’t going anywhere, they sought to grow the team’s market and scheduled a few matchups at the state capital’s new Moody Center on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin (UT).
The first Austin game for the Spurs – a 129-127 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, April 6 – set an attendance record for Moody Center with 16,023 in the seats, according to San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT.
Fans in and around the 512 area code expressed their support for the Spurs’ temporary residence, which is allowed under the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) bylaws since the AT&T Center is less than 100 miles from UT, KSAT reported.
“Every year, we try to make it out of San Antonio or at least go to one game down there, so it’s great that they’re finally here in town, right in our backyard,” fan Grant Anderson told the station.
The Associated Press (AP) reported the win, which opened a two-game stay at the home of the Texas Longhorns men’s and women’s basketball teams, placed San Antonio at 21-59 as of Friday, which kept the team from laying claim to the worst record in its 50-year existence.
Per the AP, Spurs forward Keita Bates-Diop scored 25 points, while teammates Julian Champagnie and Keldon Johnson combined for 48 points, with each chipping in 24.
For Bates-Diop and Johnson, the so-called “I-35 Series” was a homecoming of sorts as they used to suit up for the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate.
Head coach Gregg Popovich was enamored with the Moody Center.
“I think it’s a great arena,” Popovich, who took the job a year after the Spurs last won just 20 games in 1997, told the AP. “I said that earlier. It is really situated well. That fans are up on top of you, you can hear them, you can feel them, great venue.”
The Spurs lost their second Austin game to the Minnesota Timberwolves 151-131 on Saturday before defeating 1-35 rival Dallas 138-117 in the season finale.
The just-concluded campaign also saw the team return to the Alamodome for a game against the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors, which drew more than 65,000 people, Austin Journal reported.
Next up for the Spurs is an offseason in which they hope to land the top pick in June’s draft, which is purportedly French star Victor Wembanyama.
