Spurs make lottery score with expected top pick Wembanyama

When the San Antonio Spurs last won the NBA Draft Lottery in 1997, it brought them Tim Duncan and two years later secured them the first of five NBA titles. If the hype is accurate, they may have hit the jackpot once again with their win Tuesday night in the lottery.

There is little mystery who the pick will be at No. 1 overall on June 22 when the NBA Draft is held with Victor Wembanyama the consensus choice. The 19-year-old measured at 7-5 has already been playing professionally and dominating professionally overseas.

He actually was the one top prospect not in Chicago for the lottery — playing a Pro A League game earlier in the night in Paris with his team, the Metropolitans 92 and scoring 22 points to help them to a win.

“Can’t really describe [my emotions],” Wembanyama said in an interview with ESPN from a gathering with family and friends at nearly 2:30 a.m there. “My heart’s beating. A really special moment I’m going to remember for the rest of my life … I’ll [do] everything to get as many wins as possible. I want to win a ring ASAP.”

The two-year window of the 1997 lottery might seem optimistic since this incarnation of the Spurs don’t have what that team did — David Robinson returning after missing nearly the entire prior season with a broken foot. This season, the Spurs were 22-60 and there were rumors that it could signal the end of the coaching career of Gregg Popovich. But with Wembanyama on the way, it’s likely he will pair up with him to start the guidance for the young prospect.

“I believe he’s going to be a hall-of-famer,” Paris basketball coach Will Weaver, a former assistant with the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, told The Associated Press. “I coached Kevin Durant, Jarrett Allen. I’ve been around a lot of good, big men that have a lot of unique skills. I just see his professionalism and competitiveness.”

The Spurs entered the lottery with a 14% chance of landing the top pick — the same as the Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets. But the Pistons fell to fifth in the draft while Charlotte jumped to the second spot with Portland third and Houston fourth.

While Detroit may have been the biggest losers after posting an NBA-worst 17-65 record, the Knicks were also losers on this night. The Knicks are still owed a pick from the Dallas Mavericks as the last piece in the Kristaps Porzingis trade and the pick this season was top-10 protected. The Mavs' late-season efforts to tank — which earned them a $750,000 fine from the NBA — dropped them to the 10th spot and they needed a little luck to hold the pick with a 20% chance that one of the teams from 11 to 14 could jump them, pushing them back and sending the pick to the Knicks.

Once the last four teams in the lottery were announced in order with none jumping, Dallas remained at No. 10, keeping the pick. The Knicks are now owed the Dallas 2024 first-round pick, but it is also top-10 protected (and also the following season before converting to a second-round pick in 2025 if it hasn’t conveyed by that point).

By Steve Popper

steve.popper@newsday.com@StevePopper

Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.