How will the Spurs find NBA Finals redemption? Here's how, step by step.

Predictions are fun. Prediction markets are not. With that in mind, we give you our annual sneak preview of the Spurs' next eight months, while disavowing any responsibility for the potential financial ruin of anyone who misuses this information:

Tuesday: Having stewed about the conference finals all summer, a healthy Jalen Williams and a motivated Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ruin the Spurs' opening night. The new San Antonio four-guard starting lineup shows signs of promise but gets pummeled on the boards, and the Thunder win 112-109.

Friday: Houston's Kevin Durant gets loads of fan support on his old college campus in Austin, but looks distracted throughout an 18-point Spurs romp at the Moody Center. In a postgame interview, Durant reveals that Victor Wembanyama made him reevaluate not only his endorsement deal with FanDuel, but also the morality of scoring on a two-on-one fast break.

November 13: In a nationally televised back-and-forth duel with Golden State's Stephen Curry, Dylan Harper posts a career-high 41 points to lift the Spurs to an overtime victory. Draymond Green speaks glowingly of Harper from the end of the Warriors' bench, where he becomes the first active player to livestream a podcast during a game in which he played.

December 9: With Wembanyama nursing a minor injury that keeps him off the floor for 10 days, the Spurs come up short in the NBA Cup semifinals against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. Old friend DeMar DeRozan connects for 11 consecutive 15-foot jumpers, mystifying all of the Gen-Z players who did not realize those shots were legal.

December 25: Wembanyama returns to put on a spectacular Christmas Day show in Madison Square Garden against the reigning NBA champions, but it's De'Aaron Fox who gets the biggest moment. In the closing seconds, he once again challenges OG Anunoby, this time swishing a game-winning floater photographed by approximately 739 of Knicks owner James Dolan's hidden cameras.

January 14: A sellout crowd in Accor Arena turns out to shower praise on France's new cultural icon - Keldon Johnson. After a massive dunk over New Orleans' Zion Williamson, the reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year celebrates the San Antonio blowout by donning his black cowboy hat, chomping on a baguette, and becoming the first professional athlete ever to blast Darius Rucker from a boombox in Paris.

February 13: Two days after a quiet trade deadline at which the Spurs mostly stood pat, Devin Vassell posts his best all-around performance since being moved to the bench, scoring 27 points to beat Orlando. Former San Antonio assistant Sean Sweeney, the Magic head coach, advises Billy Donovan to stay put for a while.

February 21: At the All-Star Game in Phoenix, Wembanyama and Harper both try to encourage their teammates to play some defense, but nobody listens. Miami's Giannis Antetokounmpo is named the game's Most Valuable Player, and during his postgame interview thanks all of the fans who lost their houses on Polymarket.

March 11: When the Philadelphia 76ers make their visit to San Antonio, most of the team stays at a hotel downtown while LeBron James helicopters in from the mansion he purchased for the weekend at Horseshoe Bay. Carter Bryant, assigned to guard James for most of the night, outscores him 23-17 to continue a monthlong surge.

April 11: Having sewn up the top seed in the West, the Spurs rest most of their starters in the regular-season finale against Portland. This enables Tarris Reed Jr., who fared well in several spurts throughout the spring, to grab 33 rebounds, breaking Dennis Rodman's single-game franchise record.

April 26: Led by a team-high 26 points from Tobias Harris, playing just as the Spurs hoped alongside Wembanyama, the Spurs finish off a first-round sweep of Will Hardy's Utah Jazz.

May 12: After being tested by Houston's athletic wings early in the Western Conference semifinals, Harper and Stephon Castle overwhelm the Rockets in a clinching Game 6. Durant, still reevaluating things, wonders aloud if it was moral for Wembanyama to pick on a guy 16 years older than him.

May 29: In the culmination of a Western Conference finals rematch during which Wembanyama accepted his first NBA MVP award, there's a Game 7 between the Spurs and Thunder for the second year in a row. This time it's in San Antonio, and this time both teams are mostly healthy. The Spurs win again.

June 15: In Game 6 of an NBA Finals in which he was booed lustily in three games at Frost Bank Center, Kawhi Leonard is treated even more rudely in Toronto. Looking like every bit the same two-way force as his Spurs predecessor, Castle puts the clamps down on Leonard while Wembanyama and Fox find Finals redemption.

And more than 100 games after Wembanyama lamented having to wait 100 games for this, the Spurs win in six.