After a 104-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, the San Antonio Spurs are in serious danger of missing out on the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.The defeat was their second on the bounce and the eighth in their last 10 games amid a horrible and untimely slump for the team. The Spurs have dropped from third to seventh in the Western Conference standings and are just one game ahead of the ninth-placed Denver Nuggets. It's almost impossible to imagine San Antonio not being in the postseason as they own the league's longest active streak, having made it consecutively in the last 20 campaigns. But it has become a real possibility as they are in the midst of a real rot and are slipping at the wrong time. The absence of superstar Kawhi Leonard is now being felt by the team but they will be boosted by the news that he could be back for Thursday's encounter against the New Orleans Pelicans. This is not the San Antonio team of years past and the loss in Oklahoma City underlined that as it saw them lose an impressive record. It was the Texas-based franchise's 21st road defeat of the season out of a possible 41 contests, which will see them end the year with a losing record. The last time this happened to them was in the 1996-97 campaign. This 20-season streak of winning road records was the longest in NBA history, per ESPN Stats and Information.

Since they drafted legend Tim Duncan in 1997, they have been a model of consistency and success. 

But now that he's retired, the Spurs are struggling to compete with the best teams in the west and this campaign has been a new experience for their fans. 

Another record is sure to come to an end before the end of the year too as they look unlikely to continue their 18 straight seasons of at least 50 wins.

In order to do that, they'll need to win 13 of their remaining 16 games. With one of the toughest schedules remaining, their chances of achieving this are very slim.

They'll travel to face conference leaders the Houston Rockets in their next outing and have games against the Pelicans, Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers in their final 16 encounters. 

With Leonard due back, it will significantly improve their playoff hopes but they'll need him to hit the ground running. The Spurs badly need him to save their season.