Despite early ouster, Aldridge and West say they have no...

Seven months ago, on an otherwise forgettable night in Oklahoma City, LaMarcus Aldridge’s Spurs career began with a loss to the Thunder.

He had 14 points and five rebounds in the Spurs’ season-opening defeat, and took only 12 tentative shots.

Thursday, Aldridge’s inaugural Spurs voyage ended in the same place it began, with a 113-99 loss in Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

He had 18 points and a series-high 14 rebounds, and made half of his 18 attempts.

How to judge the first season of the most ballyhooed free-agent acquisition in club history?

“Winning isn’t easy,” said Aldridge, 30. “It was our first year together, and it wasn’t a bad first year. We just have to build on it.”

Last July, Aldridge and another free agent with All-Star credentials, David West, made a bold decision to come to San Antonio. The object was to keep relevant a Spurs team that had been bounced from the first round of the playoffs the season before.

In that, the mission was accomplished. The Spurs won a team-record 67 games during the regular season, trailing only Golden State’s record-setting 73 wins for the best record in the NBA.

But for Aldridge, who has never been past the second round of the playoffs, and for West, who has never been to the NBA Finals, the season ended as so many before.

Early, and in disappointment.

“We had a good run,” said West, 35. “We ran into two of the best players in the league right now (in OKC’s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook). They deserved to win.”

The premature exit was particularly bitter for West, who opted out of $12.6 million to join the Spurs on a veteran minimum deal for a shade less than $1.5 million.

Adding salt to the wound: He could have taken the same deal with a Warriors team that remains the favorite to repeat as champions.

West was a key member of the Spurs’ bench that sizzled during the regular season, but flopped against OKC.

He played only nine minutes of the Spurs’ Game 6 ouster.

Still, West says he has no regrets about his choice last summer.

“I’m good, I’m really good,” West said. “This was a good situation for me. I enjoyed every step of the way.”

West has a player option for next season worth $1.5 million, so he could return for a second season. He said after Game 6 he has “no clue” what his decision will be.

Aldridge, meanwhile, is guaranteed to return for another go-round.

The deal he signed last summer has an additional three years and $64.3 million left, though he can opt out in 2018-19.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he was pleased with the progress Aldridge made from his first night in silver and black.

Aldridge averaged 18 points per game during the regular season, after averaging at least 21 in each of his final five seasons in Portland. He did it on 5.5 fewer field-goal attempts per game than he got last season, and shot a career-best 51.3 percent.

He was named to the Western Conference All-Star team for the fifth consecutive season.

“He’s fit in quicker than anybody I think we’ve ever had for a first-year guy,” Popovich said of Aldridge. “Especially with such an experienced team, him trying to figure out where his place was. I thought he was phenomenal in that regard.”

The Spurs, however, signed Aldridge to help lead them to playoff glory. That part was a mixed bag.

Aldridge’s overall numbers from the OKC series are the stuff of max-salary stars: 26.8 points and 8.5 rebounds on 52.5 percent shooting.

Those averages dipped after a historic start to the series, which saw him total 79 points and shoot 75 percent in Games 1 and 2.

His worst shooting night — 6 for 21 — came in the Spurs’ Game 5 loss at the AT&T Center that tipped the series.

After Game 6, Aldridge refused to blame fatigue for his fade.

“It’s the playoffs,” Aldridge said. “Nobody is going to be fresh. It’s a battle, a fight every night.”

If nothing else, Aldridge learned something in his first successful-but-not-completely season with the Spurs that he already knew.

Winning isn’t easy, no matter the roster.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Twitter: @JMcDonald_SAEN