When considered in sum, the Spurs’ history of consistent success, particularly when it comes to developing international talent and No 1-drafted big men, makes Wembanyama and San Antonio ideal matches for one another. Now, he gets to add “jumpstarting Victor Wembanyama’s career” to his résumé. Popovich also holds the record for most regular season wins by a head coach and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame later this year. Popovich not only coached the Spurs during all five of their championship runs, but he led the team to the playoffs for 22 straight seasons (1998 through 2019), the longest streak in NBA history. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is the longest-tenured head coach in the NBA, having led the Spurs since 1996 and has had a hand in almost all of the team’s accomplishments. Crucially, one of the individuals most responsible for the Spurs’ success is still with the team. Moreover, unlike some of the other historically excellent franchises, much of the Spurs’ success is relatively recent (they’re also the winningest team of the 21st century). They’re the most successful regular-season team of all time by winning percentage and, with five championship wins, have the fifth-most titles in NBA history. Fortunately for Wembanyama, the Spurs distinctly do not fall into this category.īy almost every metric, the Spurs are one of the most reliably successful teams in basketball. As a result, many highly hyped young players have their careers hindered (or even ruined) by being drafted by such teams. Rather, the effects of seemingly small actions – an owner pinching payroll pennies one season, a player not signing with a team because he hates its city’s weather, etc – compound over years into persistent underperformance. It’s nothing supernatural (despite occasional claims to the contrary). Nevertheless, some teams seem to consistently perform poorly and squander opportunities. Personnel changes (including changes in ownership) happen regularly enough that there’s often little overlap among a franchise’s decision-makers in, say, the 1980s and the 2020s. Some franchises are run well for decades on end, while others simply aren’t. Success in the NBA is primarily the result of players’ on-court exploits and coaches’ tactics, of course, but it’s also often a consequence of off-court organizational excellence. Wembanyama also won big last night: his career, at least the start of it, will be guided by one of the greatest organizations in basketball. They, however, are not the only ones with reason to rejoice. Given his enormous potential, Spurs fans will be celebrating winning the “ Wembanyama sweepstakes” for weeks (if not years) to come. Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, for example, thinks Wembanyama will eventually serve as the archetype for all future NBA players, predicting that “in 2045, everybody is going to look like Victor”. In what may be the greatest accomplishment of his nascent career, Wembanyama even seems to have already won the admiration of his NBA elders (not always a given, even for the most heavily hyped prospects). He can collect his own missed three-point shot for a putback dunk, score at will over one of the best defenders in basketball and dribble past opponents like a player half his size. He does things on a basketball court which people have never seen before. His height, however, is only a (metaphorically) small part of Wembanyama’s appeal. At 19 years old and 7ft 4in tall, he’s already bigger than nearly everybody in the NBA and is possibly still growing. It’s easy to see why Wembanyama is a shoo-in to be drafted first. “Almost certain” is no exaggeration – according to oddsmakers at time of writing, a $100 wager on the Spurs to take Wembanyama with their pick would net the bettor just 50 cents. After winning Tuesday night’s draft lottery, the San Antonio Spurs are almost certain to use this year’s No 1 pick to select teenage French basketball prodigy Victor Wembanyama. The NBA draft is still more than a month away, but its biggest question has already been answered.
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