The painful rebuilding process that San Antonio Spurs have gone through in recent seasons might finally pay off. The Spurs won the NBA draft lottery on Tuesday night, getting the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and the opportunity to select generational talent in Victor Wembanyama.
The Spurs entered the lottery with a 14% chance of landing the No. 1 pick, tied with the Detroit Pistons and the Houston Rockets for the highest. The Pistons ended up sliding all the way to No.5, while the Rockets will select at No. 4.
The Charlotte Hornets (No. 2) and the Portland Trail Blazers (No. 3) join the Spurs at the top of the draft.
The 2023 NBA Draft will be the third time in Spurs’ history that the franchise holds the No.1 pick. Their previous two top picks resulted in Hall of Famers David Robinson (1987) and Tim Duncan (1997), which set the stage for one of the most dominant runs that saw the Spurs make record 22 consecutive trips to the playoffs and win five championships between 1998 and 2019.
San Antonio is widely expected to select French player Victor Wembanyama. Considered the most-anticipated basketball prospect since LeBron James, Wembanyama is already playing at the pro stage with LNB Pro A side Metropolitans 92. He has averaged 21.6 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game this season.
Other highly-rated prospects in the upcoming draft are Alabama’s Brandom Miller, G League Ignite’s Scoot Henderson, and Overtime Elite’s Amen Thompson.
