Spurs aren't thinking about being ahead of schedule. They're just focused on the conference finals.

“I understand the general expectations of what we were supposed to do in October aren’t necessarily aligned with where we’re at right now," coach Mitch Johnson said after the 139-109 romp past the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday night that finished the second-round series in six games. “We never talked about what we were going to be or what we were going to do. We just knew that we had a lot of potential and we were going to try to be the best team we could be.”

Drafting Victor Wembanyama with the first overall pick in 2023 was the most obvious step toward this moment for a proud franchise that collective five NBA championships over coach Gregg Popovich's storied tenure from 1997-2024, but the way they've assembled a strong, smart, speedy and slick-shooting backcourt around him has proven to be a masterpiece in roster building.

Stephon Castle, who led the Spurs with 32 points and 11 rebounds in Game 6 and went 5 for 7 from 3-point range, was the fourth overall pick in the 2024 draft. Dylan Harper, whose energy off the bench was a consistent edge in the series, was the second overall pick in the 2025 draft. Six of their nine primary rotation players were first-round draft picks by the Spurs.

Then there was the trade for two-time All-Star De'Aaron Fox last year, adding a steady veteran for Castle and Harper to emulate.

“They’re as coachable as anybody we have,” Johnson said. “They listen when we tell them stuff, and they get on the court and they’re just like attack dogs and they just go. I think the one thing I can give them both credit on and praise them is they don’t make a lot of repeatable mistakes.”

The Timberwolves had far more collective experience in the playoffs and overall over the Spurs, but they were the ones who made far more of those correctible gaffes. The younger Spurs looked like they had the better on-court habits, starting and ending with their determination and ability to get out on the fast break and beat the Timberwolves back in transition.

“We’re a really talented group that plays together and plays very selfless, and we’re all young,” Castle said. "I think we can beat anybody on any given night. Us just being very selfless in the way we move the ball, it’s just fun to play.”

Wembanyama in particular matured a lot within the series, after his ejection early in Game 4 for elbowing Naz Reid in the neck. He came back with a measured vengeance in Game 5 and was content to play a supporting role in Game 6 while Castle and Fox did most of the damage for a machine-like offense that scored 36, 38 and 36 points over the first three quarters.

“It feels like it’s connection between each other in the first minutes of the game,” said Wembanyama, who had 19 points in 27 minutes in Game 6. “This team, whenever we’ve hit first and taken an early lead, we’ve beat them. Really, whenever we beat them it was by like 30 every time. The way they play also makes it that they get tired because they play so physical, and we try to beat them with pace.”

Even though this group has logged only 11 playoff games together, the Spurs clearly don't look out of their element on the big stage.

“The nature of the playoffs makes it that we’re going to play against better and better teams. There was already a leap between the first and second round. It’s going to be probably an even bigger leap between the second and third," Wembanyama said. "We’ve got guidance. We’ve got a good coaching staff — the best, actually. So we can trust them.”

Starting on Monday night in Oklahoma City.

“Just the words ‘conference finals’ is crazy. It’s like something I heard my whole life, and now being in it is just special,” Wembanyama said. " It’s hopefully many more conference finals to come.”

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