Former NBA guard Jeff Teague does not do soft landings. On the latest episode of his Club 520 Podcast, the one-time All-Star delivered a verdict on the Western Conference playoff picture that San Antonio Spurs fans are not going to frame and hang.
"The Spurs is cooked," Teague said. "They was a Wemby away. I think the Spurs gonna be fine. But, nah — if Wemby get bumped too hard one game, it's over with. That concussion is hard to come back from. My boy definitely seeing stars, for sure."
The remark lands in the middle of a week when San Antonio has been cautiously optimistic about Victor Wembanyama's recovery — the 22-year-old traveled to Portland for Game 3 and has cleared early practice and cardio work — but Teague's point is more structural than medical. The Spurs, he argues, do not have the offensive spine to survive a postseason without their generational two-way centre playing at his ceiling. A protocol-compliant Wemby is not the same problem for a defense as the Wemby who collects blocks, rebounds and transition dunks in the same possession.
Teague's dismissal of San Antonio was part of a broader and slightly gloomier message: that the West's two best teams are not just favourites, they are effectively unbeatable in a seven-game series.
"I got the Thunder," Teague said, before his Club 520 co-hosts asked whether Oklahoma City had a weakness they could exploit. His answer was direct. "Nobody matches up with Denver or OKC very well."
He applied the same logic to the Eastern Conference's most-hyped threat, the New York Knicks, and in particular to Jalen Brunson — a player Teague called out by name despite calling him a friend.
"I love Jalen Brunson to death, but I've just seen CJ McCollum hunt him," Teague said. "And if he gets to that point — and is Jamal Murray? Nope. No."
Teague's Atlanta-based pod, which regularly features player and ex-player takes rather than studio punditry, has become a weekly temperature check on the league's locker rooms. This week, the temperature was cold — for San Antonio, for New York, and for anyone hoping the Western Conference final would produce a surprise finalist.
The one Eastern Conference pick Teague is willing to bet actual money on is the Cleveland Cavaliers, who lost Game 3 to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night but still hold a 2-1 series lead.
"I honestly think the Cavs can beat whoever out west," Teague said. "I think the Cavs can win it all. If I'm jumping off a cliff, I'm putting some chicken down on the Cavs."
He was less convinced the Knicks, even if they rally to beat the Hawks, have the matchup tools to compete for a championship. "I think the Knicks can make it to the finals," he said. "Do I think they can win? No."
The final Teague verdict on the postseason to come: the Cavs vs. the Thunder or the Nuggets — and whichever side the West sends, the East's finalist is an underdog. The Spurs, he believes, are no longer part of that conversation, and one bad fall in a single Game 2 has effectively redrawn the bracket for him.
Wembanyama's medical staff — and the league-appointed concussion protocol director — will decide whether Teague is early or right. The Spurs face Game 3 in Portland on Friday night. If Wemby plays, he will do so under a rulebook and a neurologist, not a podcast host's forecast.
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*Originally published on [NBA News Global](https://nbanews.global/article/jeff-teague-spurs-cooked-thunder-unbeatable-wembanyama-concussion-2026-club-520). Visit for full coverage.*
