RealGM

Given the roster churn this summer, the Spurs were bound to run into some familiar faces in unfamiliar digs. On Dec. 27, Gay comes to town with his new team, the Utah Jazz. DeRozan is back with the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 21, while — in a game sure to be emotional for at least one visitor — Mills returns with the Nets on Jan. 28. That game will also be a good chance for Popovich to reunite with Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, the player most responsible for helping Team USA bring Olympic gold back from Tokyo.

Since the AT&T Center opened in 2003, the Spurs have become accustomed to having to vacate their home gym each February to accommodate the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. This year’s schedule includes a seven-game trip beginning New Year’s Eve in Memphis that might have the Spurs wondering if the rodeo has somehow been rescheduled (it has not). After Memphis, the Spurs travel to Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and New York. Once the Spurs return, they will play nine of the next 10 games at home and won’t leave the state of Texas until a Jan. 30 trip to Phoenix.

This year’s official rodeo trek will not take them west of the Mississippi River. The itinerary begins Feb. 9 at Cleveland and comprises eight games split by the All-Star break. From Cleveland, the Spurs head to Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago and Oklahoma City before the break, then close the trip at Washington, Miami and Memphis once the All-Star festivities are done.