NBA Champ Returns to the Silver and Black
Forbes, 6-3/200, spent the first four years of his career with the Spurs and returns to San Antonio after helping the Milwaukee Bucks win the 2021 NBA championship last season. In his only season in Milwaukee, he averaged 10.0 points and 1.6 rebounds in 19.3 minutes while shooting .452 from three-point range, which ranked fourth in the NBA. Forbes was one of three players in the league to make over 150 three-pointers while shooting at least 45 percent last season.
The Spurs, who traditionally rely heavily on veteran leadership, have gone on an all-out youth movement. One could see the writing on the wall when Lamarcus Aldridge was traded to the New Jersey Nets for draft picks. This summer DeMar DeRozan and three other key veterans were shipped to other teams for draft picks and younger talent. The front office then decided to bring Bryn Forbes back to the ballclub. Now a freshly crowned NBA champion, Forbes return to the team that gave him his first shot in the NBA to help their fresh rebuild.
After going undrafted in 2016, Forbes made the Spurs roster after spending training camp with San Antonio and in four years averaged 8.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 21.7 minutes over 261 games, including 155 starts. In five career seasons, Forbes has made 584 three-pointers while shooting .412 from long range. Since Forbes entered the NBA in 2016, only 10 players in the league have hit more threes while shooting at least 40 percent from beyond the arc.
Less than two years ago, The Spurs decided to let Forbes go because of his erratic play, with his defensive deficiencies being the main reason for his struggles. Still, he shot a very impressive 43.1 percent from three in his four seasons with the Silver and Black.
Coming into the 2019-20 NBA season, the San Antonio Spurs and fans among the NBA had a supreme level of optimism involving the team. The Spurs had an impressive showing last season considering the barrage of injuries that hit the roster early in the year, which ultimately brought out some unsung heroes in guys like Bryn Forbes. He posted his career-best statistical season that year as that was his first year ever being a starting shooting guard in the NBA.
“Sparty,” as he is referred to by teammates entered the 2019-20 season shooting a remarkable 42.6 percent and it seemed to only get better from there. Forbes ultimately picked up right where he left off as soon as the playoffs started against Denver when he helped San Antonio come one possession away from moving into the second round of the Western Conference Playoffs. Bryn had blossomed into one of the game’s elite floor spacers, shooting 48.4 percent from beyond the arc in the seven-game series. His elite-level three-point shooting, coupled with his undeterred grit and hustle on the floor will be an instrumental part for this Spurs team should they make any sort of playoff run.
Forbes hopes to use his experience to mentor younger players, “This is like my second home. I am glad to be back and can’t wait to work with the younger players,” said Forbes. According to Sparty, “Championship experience was missing on last years’ team. That is where I can really help this team”. With the ups-and-downs we have seen from this year’s Spurs team, there’s no question, this bunch vastly underachieved. Forbes is a big part of the Spurs rebuild. He should be the first man off the bench and sometimes starter, filling the role that Patty Mills occupied for the past 10 seasons.
He played college basketball for Cleveland State and Michigan State and became a reliable three-point shooter. After going undrafted in the 2016 NBA draft, Forbes joined the San Antonio Spurs for the 2016 NBA Summer League. Heading into the Summer League, Spurs’ head coach Gregg Popovich told Forbes “to shoot it” after he made 77-of-100 three-pointers at one of his NBA pre-draft workouts. On July 14, 2016, he signed with the Spurs. Forbes secured an opening-night roster spot after impressing the Spurs during training camp and preseason. Forbes played sparingly for the Spurs throughout his rookie season, spending most of his time in the NBA Development League on assignment with the Austin Spurs. On April 7, 2017, with Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard not playing, Forbes scored a career-high 27 points to lead the Spurs to a 102–89 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Forbes, who had 64 points for the season with a game high of eight coming in, went 4 of 9 from 3-point range and also had career highs in minutes (29) and assists (six).
On July 2017, Forbes earned All-NBA Summer League Second Team honors for his efforts during the 2017 NBA Summer League. On November 3, 2017, he scored 22 points in a 108–101 win over the Charlotte Hornets. On November 11, he made his first career start and scored 13 points in a 133–94 win over the Chicago Bulls, becoming the third undrafted player under 6-foot-4 to start a game in San Antonio franchise history, joining Avery Johnson and Anthony Carter. He made his third career start on December 16 against the Dallas Mavericks, joining Avery Johnson as only the second undrafted player under 6-foot-4 in Spurs history to start 3-plus games. On January 28, 2018, he scored a season-high 23 points in a 113–98 win over the Sacramento Kings.
On July 20, 2018, Forbes re-signed with the Spurs. In the Spurs’ season opener on October 17, Forbes had 11 points in his first start at point guard for the team in a 112–108 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. On October 24, he scored 15 points in a 116–96 loss to the Indiana Pacers, becoming the first starting point guard for the Spurs other than Tony Parker to score in double figures in each of his first four games since Maurice Cheeks in 1989. On November 10, he scored 13 points in a 96–89 win over the Houston Rockets, thus scoring double figures in nine of 11 games to begin the season. The only other Spurs player to top that in his first three seasons was Tim Duncan, who had 10 in 1998. On December 11, he had his first career double-double with a season-high 24 points and a career-best 11 rebounds in a 111–86 win over the Phoenix Suns. It was the first double-double of his basketball career, having never had a double-double stemming back to when he started basketball in elementary school. On December 13, in a 125–87 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, Forbes joined Danny Green and Gary Neal as the only Spurs players to score 1,000 points and make 150 3-pointers in their first 150 games with the team. In March 2019, Forbes reached 250 career 3-pointers, joining Neal and Dāvis Bertāns as the only players in Spurs history to accomplish that feat in their first three seasons with the team.
On November 26, 2020, the Milwaukee Bucks announced that they had signed Forbes. In game 4 of the first-round series against the Miami Heat, Forbes dropped 22 points on efficient shooting off the bench, tying his career playoff high he set in game 2 of the same series. Notably, he outscored Heat star Jimmy Butler in the contest to clinch the series sweep. Forbes became an NBA Champion when the Bucks won the 2021 NBA Finals in 6 games against the Phoenix Suns.
