San Antonio has a history of seeking out unique advantages, both on the court and off, by playing the margins of the game. With the team and league amid a period of transition, the Spurs' next competitive edge may come from going off script and stepping into the light.
Venture capitalist and blackjack virtuoso Joe Lacob boasted in April that his Warriors were "light-years" ahead of every other franchise "in structure, in planning" and how they "go about things", but over the past two decades it's a team in south Texas that's consistently outperformed Vegas odds on its way to five titles and an active winning record over the rest of the league.