After a few down seasons, the San Antonio Spurs are relevant again.
They won the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday, which will give them the opportunity to draft French phenom Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 pick when the draft convenes late next month.
The hype surrounding Wembanyama has been immense, with many feeling he has the potential to become the game’s best player in just a few years.
When the Spurs had the No. 1 pick in 1987 and 1997, they took David Robinson and Tim Duncan, respectively, and they won 56 games in both of their rookie seasons.
That has set the bar very high for Wembanyama next season.
The bar for success is high with a San Antonio No. 1 pick.
The Spurs went 56-26 in their first season with David Robinson and 56-26 in their first season with Tim Duncan.
Those are the two best records by a team with a rookie No. 1 pick in the lottery era (since 1985). pic.twitter.com/UBS2h7wZjr
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 17, 2023
Wembanyama, who is at least 7-foot-2 tall (some sources have listed his height as tall as 7-foot-5), has impressive ball-handling skills and overall fluidity for a man as tall as he is.
But even if he is to meet the hype, the Spurs will have to build a winning team around him, and that will take some time.
When they drafted Robinson, he didn’t debut for two years because he had to serve two years in the Navy, and in the meantime, they were able to get him some support, which included Terry Cummings, Rod Strickland, and Sean Elliott.
San Antonio became a perennial contender with Robinson, and after he missed most of the 1996-97 season due to injury, Duncan joined what was already a strong team when healthy.
This time around, the Spurs have a lack of quality, experienced players, but one should expect them to be aggressive this offseason, especially since they will have lots of salary cap space.
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The Spurs Are Already Seeing The Benefit Of The No. 1 Pick
