The San Antonio Spurs fully embraced the tank in 2022-23, trading Dejounte Murray to the Hawks for three first round draft picks (and Danilo Gallinari, who they released) in the summer and sending Jakob Poeltl to the Raptors for another first round pick at the deadline.
The result was a 22-60 record that got them a bottom three record in the NBA and a 14 percent chance at the top pick in the Draft Lottery. Sure enough, during last month’s lottery, the Spurs’ numbers came up and they secured the right to draft French star Victor Wembanyama. That was the entire point of the 2022-23 season, and now they will look to rebuild quickly around their new franchise cornerstone.
There are some solid complementary pieces already on the roster, with wings Keldon Johnson (22.0 points per game), Devin Vassell (18.5 ppg), and last year’s first round pick Jeremy Sochan providing some reason for optimism about their young core. They also have a solid rotation point guard in Tre Jones (6.6 assists per game), but one figures upgrading their guard rotation and just generally add more shooting to the roster will be a priority this summer to surround Wembanyama with the support he needs to thrive.
Roster Needs: Big man, No. 1 scoring option, Point Guard, Shooting
Victor Wembanyama (No. 1 overall), A+: The Spurs had a bit of good fortune in the lottery to even have the chance to draft Victor Wembanyama, so this isn’t exactly the product of incredible scouting work, but he’s the best prospect in the draft by a wide margin and one of the best prospects to enter the league in the in decades. Of course, that doesn’t ensure anything once he arrives, but the tools are virtually unprecedented and San Antonio has a franchise centerpiece.
2023 Free Agents:
Romeo Langford (RFA)
Tre Jones (RFA)
Sandro Mamukelashvili (RFA)
Gorgui Dieng (UFA)
Keita Bates-Diop (UFA)
Roster:
Keldon Johnson
Devin Vassell
Jeremy Sochan
Zach Collins (non-guaranteed)
Doug McDermott
Devonte’ Graham
Khem Birch
Malaki Branham
Blake Wesley
Charles Bassey