What Spurs’ win means for Victor Wembanyama, NBA

The San Antonio Spurs will pick first in the 2023 NBA draft after winning the draft lottery on Tuesday night.

It is a near guarantee that they will select Victor Wembanyama, the towering French phenom who brings a near-unprecedented combination of size and skill to the NBA. The 19-year-old has been labeled one of the best prospects in years — perhaps the best since LeBron James was selected right out of high school 20 years ago.

Tuesday night’s events will shape the course of the NBA for years. Even though the Spurs are the clear winners of the draft lottery, plenty of other teams benefitted from the ping-pong balls … and others are left licking their wounds.

Here’s the winners and losers of the NBA draft lottery:

Victor Wembanyama winners? Spurs win NBA draft lottery to secure rights to No. 1 pick

Opinion: Of course Spurs’ tankapalooza paid off with Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes win

WINNERS

San Antonio Spurs

This is their third draft lottery win. The first two worked out pretty well.

San Antonio also picked first in 1997, selecting Tim Duncan, and in 1987, when it selected David Robinson. Both players are in the Basketball Hall of Fame and Duncan finished his career with five NBA championships. The Spurs never missed the playoffs during Duncan’s 19 seasons, but their 22-year playoff streak came to an end in 2020 and they have failed to reach the postseason since.

Now, the Spurs, who went 22-60 this past season, presumably have another big-man building block in Wembanyama. Managing partner Peter J. Holt did not hide his excitement when it was revealed the Spurs would pick first.

Gregg Popovich … and whoever coaches the Spurs next

Popovich is the NBA’s all-time winningest coach, but he has not had a ton of talent to work with in the years since Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard left the team. Wembanyama…