The San Antonio Spurs will be first on the clock when the 2023 NBA Draft begins on May 16 at New York City’s Barclays Center. The Spurs got the No. 1 pick after being the luckiest team in Tuesday’s NBA draft lottery.
The Charlotte Hornets and the Portland Trail Blazers will pick in the Top 3 alongside San Antonio. The Houston Rockets and the Detroit Pistons, who were tied with the Spurs for the best odds at 14%, round up the Top 5.
The Spurs finished the 2022-23 season with a 22-60 record, marking the fourth consecutive season in which the franchise missed out on the playoffs. San Antonio previously made the postseason record 22 straight times.
The No. 1 overall pick will allow the Spurs to kickstart their rebuild and possibly return the franchise to its glory days. Many believe they will use it on French prospect Victor Wembanyama, the consensus top pick in the 2023 class and one of the most exciting talents to enter the draft in recent memory.
Wembanyama himself is aware that he will likely be selected by the Spurs and has a message for his new team.
“I’m trying to win a ring ASAP,” Wembanyama told ESPN after the lottery wrapped up. “So be ready.”
The thing that works in Wembanyama’s favor is that the last two players the Spurs picked at the top of the draft have both won rings. San Antonio selected David Robinson first overall in 1987 and Tim Duncan with the No.1 pick in 1997. Robinson and Duncan won NBA titles together in 1999 and 2003, and Duncan later added three more championships on his own.
