☺️ Good Tuesday morning, everyone!

🌤️ Today's weather: Sunny with a high in the mid-90s and a slight chance of rain in the evening.

🎂 Happy birthday to our member Virginia Carefoote!

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Today's newsletter is 860 words — a 3-minute read.

Spurs basketball returns in less than a month.

Why it matters: The Spurs are coming off their deepest playoff run in years, giving fans plenty of reason to count down to opening night.

The big picture: The Spurs enter the season near the top of preseason power rankings, with several national outlets putting them at No. 1 or No. 2.

• The Spurs largely kept last season's Finals roster intact, including re-signing veterans Harrison Barnes and Julian Champagnie.

It was a shorter offseason than usual — but an eventful one. Here's what you need to know before the season starts.

📋 New faces

The Spurs added veteran forward Tobias Harris on a two-year, $31 million deal after he averaged 13.3 points and 5.1 rebounds for Detroit last season.

• San Antonio also drafted 19-year-old forward-center Jayden Quaintance at No. 20, adding another young big man behind Victor Wembanyama.
• The Spurs acquired rookie center Tarris Reed Jr. in a draft-night trade.
• Former Bulls head coach Billy Donovan joined Mitch Johnson's staff as lead assistant, replacing Sean Sweeney, who left to become Orlando's head coach.

📺 New streaming home

DAZN is the Spurs' new streaming home this season, carrying all games that aren't exclusively nationally broadcast, plus preseason games and team-produced programming.

• The service is $19.99 a month or $119.99 for the season.
• Season ticket members get 20% off season passes.

📣 Silver Dancers are back

The Spurs Silver Dancers are back after an eight-year absence, reviving a game day tradition that fans had pushed to bring back.

• The longtime dance team was disbanded in 2018 and replaced the following season by the co-ed Hype Squad. The Silver Dancers will now perform alongside the Hype Squad.

What we're watching: Quaintance underwent right knee surgery over the summer and could miss significant time to start his rookie season. The Spurs have not announced a timeline for his recovery.

What's next: The preseason tips off Oct. 8 against the Atlanta Hawks at Frost Bank Center. The regular season starts Oct. 20 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, also in San Antonio.

Santonia Cantina will open in the former home of Full Goods Diner at Pearl.

The latest: James Beard-recognized husband-and-wife restaurateurs Lizzeth Martínez and Francisco Estrada of Naco Mexican are behind the new restaurant, announced yesterday.

• Santonia, which is projected to open in November, will draw on the food, drinks and hospitality that connect Northern Mexico and South Texas.

Dig in: The restaurant's centerpiece will be its bar, with cocktails featuring sotol, mezcal and tequila alongside regional flavors like prickly pear, mesquite, pecan and roasted corn.

• The food menu will include pork shanks, ribeye tacos, shrimp flautas, ceviches, pozole, fideo and more.

What they're saying: "Santonia is very personal to us because it comes from the region that shaped who we are," Martínez, who was born in Laredo and raised in Nuevo Laredo, said in a statement. "Growing up between Northern Mexico and South Texas, we never saw those influences as separate. They were simply part of everyday life."

• "Santonia gives us the freedom to celebrate that culture in a way that feels current, fun, and completely our own."

Flashback: The couple launched Naco Mexican as a food truck in 2017.

• Naco has since expanded into a brick-and-mortar restaurant and earned accolades from Texas Monthly, Netflix, Food Network and Forbes.

⏱️ Elon Musk says his Boring Company is exploring a Hyperloop tunnel between Austin and San Antonio that could cut travel time to under 30 minutes. (Austin Business Journal 🔑)

🚰 After a brief reprieve, San Antonio Water System customers are back under Stage 3 watering rules, with limits on irrigation and surcharges for the highest water users. (SAWS)

💻 San Antonio residents can now get a free, full-service library card entirely online, eliminating the need to visit a branch to complete registration. (KENS)

Early risers can spot three bright planets stretching across the morning sky for the rest of the month.

Saturn, Mars and Jupiter can all be seen, weather permitting, in September's early morning hours, per EarthSky.

How it works: The planets will spread in a long arc along the ecliptic — the path the Sun, Moon and planets follow — like lights strung across the sky.

• To see all three, head outside before dawn and scan from east to west: Jupiter will be the bright one in the east, followed by reddish Mars and Saturn farther west.

💭 Our thought bubble: Yes, it means getting up early, but at least the temperature won't be scorching.

Before the Spurs get back to business, let's flip through the summer that was.

Here's how some of the Spurs spent their off time.

Thanks to our editors Astrid Galván and Bob Gee.

😯 Madalyn is impressed that Wemby was able to draw Texas this well from memory.

👃 Megan might love fall, but is holding her nose at this candy corn perfume.