2023 NBA Draft Lottery Watch: Spurs In Hunt for Victor Wembanyama

The San Antonio Spurs have been in the bottom rungs of the Western Conference standings all year, and they see Victor Wembanyama waiting for them at the end of the tunnel.

The San Antonio Spurs are 17-50 and own the third-worst record in the 2022-23 NBA season. The only positive that can come from an abysmal season is a high draft pick at the curtain call of the year. Can the ping pong balls gift San Antonio and coach Gregg Popovich with one more all-time great talent before his inevitable retirement?

The Detroit Pistons (16-53) and the Houston Rockets (16-52) are the only two teams with a leg up on the Spurs in the race to be the worst come season's end. The Charlotte Hornets (22-48) and Orlando Magic (28-40) have outside chances of unseating San Antonio as a bottom-three seed. 

The 2023 NBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm will take place on May 16 in the midst of the NBA playoffs. NBA.com laid out the odds system, saying in part: 

"The new system will level the odds at the top of the NBA Draft Lottery so that the teams with the three worst regular-season records will each have a 14 percent chance of winning the lottery. In the pre-2019 structure, the top seed had a 25 percent of winning the lottery, the second seed had a 19.9 percent and the third seed had a 15.6 percent."

As presently constructed, San Antonio would own 14 percent odds along with the Pistons and Rockets. The Spurs have done everything in their power to prime themselves for favorable positioning in the draft. They traded 2022 NBA All-Star Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Haws in June of 2022, prior to the start of this season.

Additionally, general manager Brian Wright moved Jakob Poeltl to the Toronto Raptors at the trade deadline in exchange for Khem Birch and notably, three future draft picks highlighted by a 2024 first round selection. Lastly, they sent Josh Richardson to the New Orleans Pelicans for Devonte' Graham.

Following a 2022 play-in tournament appearance, the Spurs have cleaned house of all their valuable veterans and filled their depth chart at voided positions. Now, San Antonio has gone all in on rebuilding, and the No. 1 pick is the perfect place to start. 

The last two times coach 'Pop' has inherited No. 1 overall picks -- David Robinson (1987) and Tim Duncan (1997) -- he coached the Spurs to five championships in a 15-year span between 1999 and 2014. 

Victor Wembanyama carries the same allure and prestige that both Duncan and Robinson garnered heading into the draft. Some would say his varied skillsets usurp both for his age. Nonetheless, whether the Spurs land Wembanyama or get lucky with Scoot Henderson (NBA G League Ignite), San Antonio is in desperate need of top talent to return to NBA dominance. 

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