1989–90 San Antonio Spurs season

The 1989–90 San Antonio Spurs season was the 14th season for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association, and their 23rd season as a franchise. This marked the first NBA season for rookie center David Robinson, who was selected by the Spurs as the first overall pick in the 1987 NBA draft; with his two-year tour of duty at the Navy over, Robinson arrived to the Spurs for the 1989–90 season. In the 1989 NBA draft, the Spurs received the third overall pick, and selected small forward Sean Elliott from the University of Arizona, acquired All-Star forward Terry Cummings from the Milwaukee Bucks, and acquired All-Star guard Maurice Cheeks and David Wingate from the Philadelphia 76ers during the off-season.

With the addition of Robinson, Cummings, Cheeks and Elliott, the Spurs showed a lot of improvement, winning 19 of their first 25 games of the regular season, and holding a 32–14 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, Cheeks, who only spent half a season with the Spurs, and appearing in 50 games, was traded to the New York Knicks in exchange for second-year guard Rod Strickland. The Spurs finished in first place in the Midwest Division with a then franchise-best 56–26 record, earning the second seed in the Western Conference, and surpassing the 53-win season of 1982–83.

Robinson had one of the most successful rookie seasons for a center in NBA history, averaging 24.3 points, 12.0 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 3.9 blocks per game, as he was unanimously voted the NBA Rookie of the Year, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team, to the NBA All-Rookie First Team and NBA All-Defensive Second Team. In addition, Cummings averaged 22.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game, while second-year guard Willie Anderson provided the team with 15.7 points, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game, and Elliott contributed 10.0 points per game, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. Off the bench, Wingate provided with 6.8 points and 2.7 assists per game, and Frank Brickowski averaged 6.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Miami Arena in Miami, Florida, Robinson was selected for the 1990 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Western Conference All-Star team; it was his first ever All-Star appearance. Robinson also finished in sixth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while head coach Larry Brown finished in fifth place in Coach of the Year voting.

In the Western Conference First Round of the 1990 NBA playoffs, the Spurs faced off against the 7th–seeded Denver Nuggets, a team that featured All-Star guard Fat Lever, All-Star forward Alex English, and Michael Adams. This was also the first ever playoff appearance for Robinson. The Spurs won the first two games over the Nuggets at home at the HemisFair Arena, before winning Game 3 on the road, 131–120 at the McNichols Sports Arena to win the series in a three-game sweep.

In the Western Conference Semi-finals, the team faced off against the 3rd–seeded Portland Trail Blazers, who were led by the quartet of All-Star guard Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, All-Star center Kevin Duckworth and Jerome Kersey; the Trail Blazers started the series without Duckworth, who was out due to a right hand injury. The Spurs lost the first two games to the Trail Blazers on the road at the Memorial Coliseum, but then won the next two games at home at the HemisFair Arena. After losing Game 5 to the Trail Blazers at the Memorial Coliseum in double-overtime, 138–132, the Spurs won Game 6 at the HemisFair Arena, 112–97 to even the series. However, with Duckworth returning from his hand injury, the Spurs lost Game 7 to the Trail Blazers at the Memorial Coliseum in overtime, 108–105, thus losing in a hard-fought seven-game series. The Trail Blazers would advance to the NBA Finals, but would lose to the defending NBA champion Detroit Pistons in five games in the 1990 NBA Finals.

The Spurs finished 16th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 586,787 at the HemisFair Arena during the regular season. As the 1980s ended, the 1989–90 season proved to be the rebirth of the Spurs franchise; this season would mark a turning point for the franchise, as the Spurs would miss the NBA playoffs only once between 1990 and 2019 (that coming in the 1996–97 season). Following the season, Brickowski was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.

For the season, the Spurs revealed a new primary logo, which featured the fiesta colors of turquoise, fuchsia and orange. The team's uniforms remained silver and black, although starting this season, the team name "Spurs" replaced the city name "San Antonio" on the road jerseys. The team's new primary "fiesta" logo, and the new uniforms would both remain in use until 2002.