Nets can’t hold on to fourth-quarter lead as furious rally is wasted in loss to Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — The Nets are tanking this season in hopes of landing a transformational talent in next year’s draft.

They didn’t have far to look to see just what that can do for a franchise.

The scoreline will say the Nets lost 118-107 to the Spurs at the Frost Bank Center. But really, they lost to Victor Wembanyama and Dylan Harper.

Once again, the Nets dug themselves a huge hole — this time 26 points — before storming back to take a fourth-quarter lead. But they couldn’t hold it.

Cam Thomas poured in a game-high 40 points but got precious little help. Michael Porter Jr. (16 points) and Nic Claxton (10) were the only other Nets in double figures, with Brooklyn shooting just 39.1 percent from the field.

Meanwhile, Wembanyama had 31 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks in wrecking the Nets offense.

And rookie Harper — the second pick in this year’s draft — had 20 points, eight assists and six boards, finishing plus-33 off the bench and dominating Nets lottery pick Egor Dëmin.

The Nets were buried far deeper than six feet under before showing fight. They trailed 81-55 with 8:47 left in the third after Stephon Castle found Julian Champagnie for a 3-pointer. But that’s when they dug in for an extended run that spanned the periods.

The Nets went on a 35-7 blitz to surge ahead.

They turned up their defense to force San Antonio to miss 10 of the next dozen shots and converted those to run-outs.

But instead of challenging Wembanyama in the paint, they stuck to the script — and the perimeter.

The Nets hit 7-of-11 from deep in that run, with Jalen Wilson’s 3-pointer off a Tyrese Martin feed putting them over the top at 90-88 with 10:08 to play.

Martin’s free throws with 8:40 left pushed the lead to 97-92, but they couldn’t hold it, allowing 11 unanswered points. The Nets watched as Harper and Wembanyama made huge plays to flip the momentum again.

The Spurs ran a two-man game, with Harper feeding Wembanyama for a 3-pointer that made it 103-97. The clock read 6:11, but the game was over.

Ziaire Williams was forced from the game with a back injury after taking a hard fall.