Tarris Reed Jr. scores his first NBA basket, and his 3:38 to open the fourth helps the Spurs pull away in Dallas

Tarris Reed Jr. scored his first NBA basket on Saturday, October 24, in a three-minute stretch that the San Antonio Spurs rookie admitted he never expected to play. “I didn’t think I was going to get in,” the center said after San Antonio’s 122-106 win over the Dallas Mavericks, its first victory of the season.

Reed’s line was small: two points, three rebounds and one turnover in 6:39, on 1-of-2 shooting. The timing was not. San Antonio had let a 14-point third-quarter lead shrink to 92-89 when he checked in to open the fourth for Victor Wembanyama, and the Spurs were up 103-94 by the time he came out 3:38 later. They won the period 30-17.

The first bucket

The basket itself came at the rim, on a feed from Devin Vassell, and the Spurs posted it within minutes. It was the third game of Reed’s career. He had logged a little over a minute in the opener against Oklahoma City and did not play against Houston on Friday.

FIRST NBA BUCKET FOR TARRIS 👏

📺 @_daznus pic.twitter.com/GS3OZ0hc29

— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) October 25, 2026

His teammates treated the stint as more than garbage-time trivia. Dylan Harper, who scored 22, went furthest: “That was probably the best three minutes anyone played.” Wembanyama called them important minutes, and Reed said De’Aaron Fox had promised him the game ball, which he was still waiting on after the game.

Reed described the whole night as surreal, and he said the work behind it was ordinary. He has been watching film and the staff’s scouting videos as if he were going to play 30 minutes a night, and he sees his job as simple: be physical and rebound. That matches the preseason scouting on him. In an October 12 exhibition against Utah he pulled down 17 rebounds, eight on the offensive glass.

Where he fits behind Wembanyama

The minutes opened up because the usual backup plan was not working. Luke Kornet was scoreless and finished minus-18 in 14 minutes, and coach Mitch Johnson went to the rookie’s fresh legs rather than going back to the veteran. Johnson’s own explanation of that choice is in our story on his postgame comments.

One good stretch does not make Reed the first center off the bench. Kornet has held that role in all three games, and Johnson has not said the rotation will change. What Reed earned is a reason for the staff to look again. The 6-foot-10 center was the 26th pick in June, taken by Denver and sent to San Antonio for second-round picks, after two seasons at Michigan and two at UConn, where as a senior he averaged 14.7 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks and made the All-NCAA Tournament team.

Wembanyama finished the win with 23 points, seven rebounds and four blocks, and the Spurs were 32 points better with him on the floor. The minutes behind him are the ones Reed is now competing for. Full numbers are in the Spurs-Mavericks Game Center.

What comes next

The Spurs (1-2) return home to host the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday, October 27, at 8 p.m. ET. Follow it in the Kings-Spurs Game Center.