Giannis? Keep No. 2 pick? San Antonio’s lottery win provides options | Spurs Insider

Giannis? Keep No. 2 pick? San Antonio’s lottery win provides options | Spurs Insider

from a highly secure network of top secret locations across North America. This is the Spurs Insider Lottery Winners Edition. I’m your host, Mike Finger, joined as always by our panel of Express News Spurs beat Writers Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsbourne, along with sports editor Nick Talbot. Tom is joining us for the third consecutive year on the morning after what’s become a tradition for Tom Osborne. Heading into the lottery room, the drawing room, turning over all of his electronic devices, cutting himself off from the outside world, and watching the local cagers changed the course of their franchise. Two years ago, it happened when I was right outside that room and the Spurs landed Victor Wimbeyama. Last year, it happened. The Spurs got their lottery ball combination drawn again and landed in the top four to draft with the eventual rookie of the year, Stefan Castle. This year, their lottery ball combination comes up again. They don’t get the big prize, but they get a pretty big prize, Tom. Um, I think the prediction we’re going to make to start out this podcast is you’re not going to be doing this next year. Uh, does that sound like a a plan for you? Yeah. Uh, Brian Brian and I talked about that. He said, uh, you know, we’re we’re a winning combination, he said. So, you know, you have to clear your calendar if we ever have to do this again. And I said, well, hopefully you never have to again. He said, well, there’s always a trade. You know, there’s always always that possibility. So, but um now it was interesting last night that he um you know in 2023 as the as the balls were pulled up and the numbers were red, he was really struggling to find the combination to see if the Spurs had won and he couldn’t find it. Of course, there were 140 combinations that year and the Rockets rep leaned over to him and and whispered, “I think it’s you. I think you got it.” But this year there were 60 combinations and he was right on the money as soon as that fourth ball came came up and the number was red. He knew it. Started nodding his head and you know tapped the uh uh table with his hand. That was his form of uh celebration. You know two years ago it was a little understated fist bump. Um, so yeah, it was he was um he was talking about that afterward how he knew this time around that they had gotten it, but yeah, he was elated. And I guess there’s a possib they do own some Atlanta picks, so he I guess I was just thinking you could go back with with him uh uh the Spurs handling the Atlanta picks. But that leads us to the natural next uh topic of conversation here after we get past just the the shell shock laughable hilarious turn of events that Nico Harrison and the and the Dallas Mavericks won this lottery which just shows that good planning gets rewarded fellas. Competence competence always pays off. It’s it’s good karma. Um, I’m not sure that the Spurs are going to make this pick. And uh, I’ll I’ll I’ll start the conversation with just the the what we know. Uh what we know is there’s a fella from uh Rutgers, the uh college basketball hotbed of Rutgers called Dylan Harper who um seems to be the consensus number two player in this draft behind Cooper Flag. I think there’s a lot of agreement on that. Um there there there are some outlier takes out there which which you know there’s always somebody trying to be a contrarian but it seems to be pretty well decided that Dylan Harper is the guy who most scouts talent evaluators executives think is the second best player in this draft. He’s a he’s a guy who could fit into what the Spurs are building in San Antonio. The problem is and it’s not a problem at all. I shouldn’t have used that word. The issue is there might be a better use of this huge asset that the Spurs just won last night than to add a player who has some overlap with the player they acquired at the trade deadline last year, Darren Fox, and the player that they landed in last year’s draft, Stefon Castle. So, um, this leads to some natural questions about what do you do with this pick? It is now the third most attractive, maybe the second most attractive trade chip that the Spurs have in their stockpile right now. Uh, you could do a lot of things with it. Jeff, I want to bring you in on this. Does this change your tune on the discussion we had two weeks ago about Giannis? Does it um lead you to think that maybe you trade down and look for a shooter? Does it lead to more modest trades or do you just say, “Hey, if everyone really loves Dylan Harper this much, uh the Spurs should take him and find room for him.” It’s a It’s a lot of questions. A lot a lot of a lot of questions there. I don’t know where to start. I I think there would be zero questions if the Spurs had just got the number one pick. Yeah. Like why didn’t they do that? They got so close. I think it’s I think it’s um I think it’s just proof that God hates the Spurs. Yeah. Yeah. Or it’s rigged. It’s got to be rigged. Yes. What a curse. Yeah. The lottery is the lottery is so rigged that like the top the best picks of the last 40 years have gone to those big market teams like San Antonio and Orlando. Yeah. And uh you know Cleveland. Yeah. Like this is really they don’t do a good They suck at rigging if they rig the lottery. Anyway, back to your questions about the number two pick. Um what was the first one you I’m like being interviewed and you asked three I just have a three-part question. And now I can’t remember any of the parts. We’re going to start with the one that’s going to get uh you know all the people riled up and just say does it is is is do you have to use this pick now to get Giannis? Do you have to Oh, absolutely. I have to There’s no have to. No. See, that’s why I posed the question that because you do not have to. Yeah. I think I mean someone asked me does this make it does this increase the odds of of trading for Giannis? And I guess the answer to that is yes because the number two pick is more attractive than than the number eight pick which is where the Spurs were at like like so I guess that’s a pedantic way of answering it but I I I guess I can’t speak to what the Spurs will do but I can speak to what I would do and I’m still I’m not really protrade for Giannis. I think explain I think um I mean the main the main issue to me is I think you’re is that team in Oklahoma City and I realize OKC is uh in a tied series with the Nuggets right now so this might all but I think that team is going to be a monster for the next several years and I think if you use a you use a lot of your capital to bring in Giannis you make the Spurs a lot better. They’re clearly a Western Conference contender, but I have I fear that you’re spending a lot of capital to play for number two in the West, and you’re still going to have to wait out that Oklahoma City dynasty in the making. And when that’s over, Giannis is past his prime. He’s 35 or something. So, that’s one reason I would I would rather I’d rather build for a window a little after that and and build build through the draft and um build a team that comes up together. And everything we know about the Spurs is that’s kind of how they’ve they’ve they’ve tend to operate and how they wanted to put this together. So now the the flip side of that whole OKC argument is a the most compelling argument I can think of to make a play for Giannis is to keep him from going to Oklahoma City and lengthening that window or Houston and making those two teams teams that you have to go through for the next half decade or more. And I don’t know if like preventing someone else from doing something is a good enough reason to do something yourself, but that’s the most compelling reason to me is to keep him out of those guys hands. I really hate everything that you just said, like everything because I agree with all of it. Yes. And and I wanted everybody on this freaking podcast. I wanted to debate you. I wanted to debate somebody, but it’s just it I I I think that you you had it exactly right. And that makes for really boring podcast. Um, we we needed to like throw down intellectually. Um, and it’s just not going to happen because I didn’t want to have to Hey, hey, hey. I think that like just we talked about it two weeks ago. The thought of of Giannis in a Spurs uniform next to Victor Wanyama is so crazy funny and exciting that I wouldn’t bash the Spurs for doing it. And I would totally understand if they did do it upside. It would work. I just don’t know that if it work it works good enough. Crazy. Crazy as that sounds. You want someone please? I’ll go for it. I’ll argue with you. Okay. I’ll argue with you. Okay. So, you just have this 7 foot4 guy who’s diagnosed with DVT. How long is your window? Do you know you’re going to get 10 years, 12 years of great Victor Wimbeyama? Maybe not. Maybe he gets hurt. There’s no guarantees in NBA. And sometimes instead of a dynasty, you have to plan for like the Bucks thought they were going to get more than one. They didn’t. Uhhuh. So, so sometimes you just need to know go for what you can. Thank you for doing this because I think I think Giannis can give you a window and say, “Okay, we’re this is our championship window. Victor and Giannis can at least get you one championship, maybe two, and they put you into the window right now.” instead of saying two or three years from now. Why are you building a championship contender for five years from now when you can be a championship contender right now? Thank you so much, Nick, for giving me some points to shoot down because that’s exactly that’s exactly what I needed. You’re you’re sometimes you have to play that devil’s advocate, but Yiannis, you’re voicing the fan and I can be the champion can give you the championship window right now. Exact. I can and now that’s perfect. That is that is perfect. Now, I can take I can pick this apart piece by piece because first of all, as as we discussed a couple weeks ago, uh okay, all all of what Nick said makes makes sense at first, but uh but okay, uh if if Victor if his career is not going to be what we think it is, then like the that things things aren’t good like like you you you can’t plan for that. You can’t plan for um the backup plan when you have Victor Wimbeyama. I don’t think that’s the smart way to do things. Uh you you want to build with Victor Wimyama. You you don’t want to you don’t want to say, “Oh, if he’s not around, then we need in 10 years, then we need to make the most of it now.” I I don’t think that’s that’s the Spurs way of building. They don’t look short-term. They look longterm. That’s that part of it. The second part of it is when you talk about needing to make your championship window now that just does not ha go back through the last decade and a half of NBA history. Teams that immediately that try for the immediate championship contention window do not succeed. No, no, uh, finals MVP, no best player in the finals, best player on his final team has ever been that in the first six, seven years of his career over the past two decades. Like, it always takes time to to to build to that. We talked about this a couple weeks ago. Um, the with with the Rockets, with the Thunder. The Thunder were the best team in the West last year. just ran into the wall in the playoffs. Like, so you put Giannis and Victor together, like sure, they immediately become a really good team, maybe one of the top teams in the West, but that team needs to lose at least once, maybe twice in the in the playoffs before it gets over the hump. That’s just the way playoff success happens these days. You you don’t immediately become a championship team. So Giannis is 30 years old and uh if you figure you need like it’s unrealistic to me as good as that team could be to think that that team could win the championship in the next two years. Victor needs a couple of years of figuring out the playoffs. Stefan Castle does. None of these other guys like Kelvin Johnson hasn’t played in the playoffs. Uh if if Jeremy Sohan and Devin Vel and those guys are still around, they haven’t played in the playoffs. you’re gonna need two at least two years of runway minimum before you think about winning the championship. So at that point, Giannis, to Jeff’s point, Giannis is 33 and he’s passed his prime and everyone’s getting really really expensive. And so my and and I’m I’m not trying to be so like strident against Giannis. I’m just making the argument so people understand why it’s not a slam dunk. Um, if you if you believe in Dylan Harper or you believe in somebody younger, like I if that guy’s going to be that good, like why not take the 20-year-old and and have give yourself to to Nick’s point about uh if if Victor’s career isn’t going to be as long as it is, well then now you have a a 20-year-old future all-star, you hope, with Stefan Castle and with De’Arren Fox. when they traded for De’Arren Fox at the deadline, some people said the one drawback to that was he was too old and he was 27. So, um I I think that Nick brings up valid points. I just think that knowing the Spurs, they would have to be really really really convinced to go against how they’ve always built teams. Um they’d have to be convinced of something. And I just don’t see it yet as a slam dunk that this automatically means they’re going to go get Yiannis. Uh Tom, you could weigh in on any of this. Uh Tom’s on mute. Um for one other question, but but go ahead and and calendar, Nick. Sorry. Sorry about Sorry. Sorry about that. You can you can build and you can hope all you want, but the chances of you getting like Dylan Harper turning out to be as good as Giannis are very low. So you’re probably never going to get a player as good as Y is to go next to it. Will Okay, good. Good response. I mean I mean that’s just the way it is cuz what are the what Giannis is I mean there’s no guarantee Victor is going to be as good as Giannis. I mean that’s probably not true but you know Giannis is one of the best players and he has a championship peg. He’s already been there. He’s already won it. You’re not someone but you’re talking about the past. Nick Nick, let me ask you this. I I agree. The chances that Dylan Harper ever will be as good as Vic as as Giannis was in his career are extremely low. What are the chances that uh there will be more value for Dylan Harper in 2028, 3 years from now, than uh Giannis in 2028? Giannis making $60 million a year at age 33? Well, who will be the more valued asset in 2028? Dylan Harper at the end of his rookie contract at age 22 or Giannis at 33 past his prime making $60 million a year financially. Financially? No. No. I mean basketball. I mean I I mean I mean which which asset would you rather have on your team trying to win a championship? Basketball-wise, how to build a teamwise? How to how to add players around them? Which which who’s more valuable in 2028, which I think is the first year the Spurs can seriously consider winning a championship? I don’t think that’s a a slam dunk on on the court. You think you you Okay, but again, you’re not counting not counting not counting the salary cap, which is what you said than Giannis. That’s a gu he’s a guaranteed. Harper’s not a guarantee. He could be a flop. Giannis is a guaranteed age 33. I I mean, look at him. I mean, he’s a freak. I He’s He’s not He’s not Zion Williamson. He’s not over there eating cheeseburgers or whatever having troubles with his weight. That guy is just a chiseled guy. I mean, he hasn’t had a huge injury history. He’s not Anthony Davis. Okay. I I think I take I take I take Giannis on the court. I take Giannis at 33. Do I take him at 35, 36? That’s that also factors into it. May maybe not. But at 33, I I think he’s still going to be Giannis. See, it’s it’s but but it brings up it’s I’m glad this is where these these great players kind of saw their unless you’re LeBron James start seeing decline, you know, and that’s what the Spurs are building towards is there is they want the their window is 2027 2028 that that area through like the early 2030s and uh and Giannis doesn’t fit into that. And yes, I realize he’s such a generationally great player that maybe you make an exception anyway and you think that you have him for a few years and then move on to whatever is next. But this is the argument against it and it’s not a matter of Dylan Harper versus Giannis um like who’s going to be the better player, who’s more likely to go to the Hall of Fame. Obviously, that’s one-sided. It’s a matter of how how they fit into what the Spurs are building. And I think it’s a a decent conversation to have. And Tom, you can jump in whenever you want. If if Harper fulfills his promise of being favorably compared to Cade Cunningham, I mean, that’s that’s a solid solid number two to pair with Victor. Um, then you throw in Fox and Castle. I mean, that’s a homegrown nucleus that could have a window as big as the one I’m looking out here in Chicago from my hotel room. It’s a rather large How big is that window, Tom? It’s a rather large window. Mike, did you measure it? Large. It’s it’s it’s rather large. What are you looking out upon in Chicago town? Uh the river. The river. That’s very nice. Very nice view. A little foggy this morning, but nonetheless, it’s a big window. So that’s that’s what the Spurs want. They, you know, they’re not looking at one championship. They’re they’re looking at contending for the s, you know, having sustainability for for the future for a long time. And Cunningham, like Mike said, at age 19, if I mean, um, Harper at age 19, if he compares to Cunningham, that’s that’s a hell of a number, too. And can you see can you see Trump Tower from your uh window? Um, no, I cannot. Yeah. No. Okay. Just wondering that makes that makes the window even Yeah. Anyway, um the So, it’s not it’s not the greatest window we ever saw. Right. Right. Um Right. But it’s but that leads Tom that’s that leads to another option here which it’s not just it’s not just Dylan Harper or Giannis. There are middle grounds. There are there are alternatives. The when I think Brian Wright mentioned to Tom Worsborne uh coming out of the uh of the drawing room yesterday that uh the Spurs have the pick of the litter. Is that right? Mitch that was Mitch L Mitch Mitch. Mitch Mitch Mitch said they have the pick of the litter. Yeah. That that struck me. Yeah, the the the litter is not just this draft class. It’s it’s all kinds of things. It’s it’s uh trade targets and it’s not just the second best player in the draft. Like if the Spurs decide that they want that somebody else really really wants Dylan Harper who needs a lead guard. The Spurs kind of have two now. Um, you know, you could trade down a couple spots if if they had somebody targeted at at that four or five or six or somewhere along there and then collect more stuff to go with it. I think that the Spurs are going to have a lot of options coming their way. I think they’re going to be a lot of offers made to the Spurs from teams who want to move up and are really intrigued by Dylan Harper. Um, I don’t think that someone other than Dylan Harper is going to be taken second. Um, I’m no I’m I’m I’m no uh you know draft guru, but like Ace Bailey, uh the guy who Well, if if the idea of Ace Bailey fits the Spurs better than Dylan Dylan Harper does. He’s a tall, strong guy who can make a shot. Um really, really, really good-looking athlete. Um he just didn’t didn’t do much this year. Um, friend friend of the podcast, John Hollinger, who I think saw Ruters in person, I think John saw the Ruters in person a bunch this year, um, had his list of, uh, draft prospects come out yesterday and he had him 12th, Ace Bailey. And that’s that’s he’s low on that and that that might be extreme, but but uh, the point is like Ace Bailey is a is a project. He’s not close to uh to being the differencemaker that Dylan Harper is yet. He’s at his best, I think he fits the Spurs better than anybody other than Cooper Flag in the draft. It’s just it it’s the kind of gamble that I’m not sure the Spurs make with that pick. And so I I I think that somebody is going to take Dylan Harper second and it’s a matter of whether the Spurs are that team or not. And another team could be the Milwaukee Bucks if the Spurs trade for Giannis. Or it could be like say does does Utah want to trade up a couple spots and get him? And uh does that bring like uh Lori Markin back into the to the uh discussion. Um he’s he’s a very very very poor man’s Giannis, but the Spurs could target shooting in that way. It’s a harmless man’s Giannis. I’m I’m just saying. And I and I don’t think there the Lori marketing thing is going to happen at all. I just threw that out as an example of of take a lower level type of guy um and uh and maximize that that asset that the Spurs just got. You you want to know what I would do if I was Brian Wright? Yeah. This is going to break the podcast uh podcast averse. Um I wouldn’t overthink it and I would take Dylan Harper. Yeah. And I’ve heard the arguments, well, they already have this guy and that guy, but it like it’s this. Has anybody watched the NBA in 2025? Like, it’s not really about positions. Like, I Yes, I get. Yeah, but we need shooting. Yeah, but we need uh a big guy. Well, go get those guys other ways. You have another pick in the first round. There’s free agency. When you have the second pick, take the best player there. And if you’re not going to do that, then then yeah, trade trade down. get something for for uh let somebody else take the next Kate Cunningham and you go trade get something else and take pick fifth or whatever, but take take the best player. You can play all those guys. If they’re as good as if they’re as good as you think they are, you can play all those guys. Yep. And the the other that’s the other counter to the to the Giannis argument is that um what’s the last if if you trade for Giannis, you’re building a a super team. um you’re you’re building around basically three four guys who are going to be making uh a a ton of money in a few years and you’re going to have to find vet minimums around them in a few years. It’s just going to be these these three huge contracts and three three stars and what’s the when’s the last time that has worked for a championship in the NBA? It has been a while. Um, it’s the the there’s cautionary tales left and right, named Kevin Durant’s last two teams, you know, it’s it’s just hard to make that work anymore. And just the way the NBA is going, it’s the teams with with a bunch of depth, with a bunch of young players who’ve grown together. That’s the formula for building a contender these days. And here’s the other thing. If you take Dylan Harper now, you have uh uh you’ve added to your stable of guys that other teams are going to want over the years, and you can always adjust off of that. If you throw everything into Giannis, you’re kind of stuck with that. and and being stuck is that’s that’s the wrong word for adding a guy who’s a perennial MVP candidate and is a huge differencemaker and has won a title and all that type of stuff, but you are you are limited to that lane for the foreseeable future. Um, and that might be the lane that they choose. I I’m just saying that I think I side with Jeff as to just taking the best guy and making it work. Um, like like Dylan Dylan Harper would be the number one pick in a lot of drafts. Yeah. Not this one and not the Victor draft, but maybe last year. Last year. Last year. Yeah. You know, just don’t overthink it. At number two, don’t overthink it. Don’t be the team that’s like, “We already have Clyde Drexler. We can’t have Michael Jordan, too.” Yeah. Take the guys that can play and figure it out. Um, and and you made you brought up a good point um when you were uh when you were playing devil’s advocate with your own argument earlier about uh the idea of uh if the Spurs don’t trade for Giannis then somebody they’re trying to beat Will and that’s that’s pretty likely actually like I think Houston Houston Houston’s considered the second most likely team to trade for him and uh if you’re a Spurs fan that would be disappointing because I think Houston’s going to be in the running for the next few years. And to see Houston’s already sort of a year ahead of you, more than a year ahead of you. They they just went through their uh year where they had with the second or third second seed in the West, third seed in the West and and flamed out in the first round. They’ve taken those lumps. Now they’re ready to take their step forward next year. If you add Giannis, they’re even farther ahead of you. Um, so that would be uh kind of a fear if you’re the Spurs that you allow somebody else that’s kind of on your timeline to take a step ahead of you. But Jeff also said, I’m I’m praising Jeff’s logic way too much today. That I got a good night’s sleep. That most uh that that that it’s not a good rationale. It’s not a good reason to do something. It’s because you’re afraid somebody else will. That that that’s that’s not the way you run a franchise. It it is a catch 20. It is a catch 22 in that if you trade for Y if you’re the Spurs and you trade for Giannis, you’re probably still not good enough to compete with the the top of the West and there’s no way to really get good enough. You’ve you’ve you’ve landlocked yourself. On the other hand, if he goes to Houston or he goes to Oklahoma City, you’re having to wait out the rest of Giannis’s career until you can compete with those teams again. Yeah. So, it is kind of a catch 22. I think you should be good enough. I think that’s I think that’s the false here. I think they’re they be Well, I maybe I just I think Oklahoma City, even without Giannis, is going to be a complete beast for the next five years. And I don’t see I don’t Yeah. And while they’re while they’re while they’re in a two- two series with the Nuggets, but I just like they’re not going to get worse from here. They’re only going to get better. They have Yeah. the Spurs team, the Spurs team last year, even with, you know, Chris Paul on it, who’s not going to be around, um, the aging Harrison Barnes, was not a Giannis away from like a top three seed in the West, let alone getting a top three seed in the West and making it through four rounds of the playoffs. Like, they are they are not a Giannis that team was not a Giannis away from competing for a title. Just trying to be honest here. And yes, if you if you trade for Giannis, you probably um pull off some more win now moves that could lead to some more improvement, but then you’re really putting all your eggs in the um 2025 till like 2028 window, which is not the window that the Spurs have had in mind for the past few years under Victor. So yeah, that that’s that’s the drawback. And now, you know, of course, they’re going to go trade for him and we’re going to have to uh we’re going to have to eat all these words, but um I I I’m with Jeff on this. Well, when you talk Go ahead. Well, when you talk about not overthinking it, I think it applies to what we know about the Spurs. You know, they they are super patient. They are not going to skip steps and they want that again that affformentioned very large window. So, I mean, all all of that points to Harper. You you you say you say we won’t we’ll have to eat our words, but I don’t know about that. I mean, I I think um as with most of these discussions, like you can see both sides. Yeah. Like like no one’s going to say you traded for Giannis, you idiot. No, no one’s going to say that. It’s just if if you weigh both sides, I come down on the uh let’s wait it out side. Like I understand that argu but I understand both arguments. And again, that doesn’t make good podcasting, understanding both arguments, but I do. Yeah. Yeah. And and uh again, as as uh as voseiferous as I’ve been on the anti-read for Yiannis side, it’s not like I’m 100% against it. It’s like I’m still sort of 7030 maybe. like I because because the like the content would be so incredible of uh of covering a team with Giannis and Victor and you know everybody else that they’d have on it. I I think it’s just sort of not uh Spursian. It’s it’s it’s it’s not uh it’s not a pound the rock move if you will. Yeah. So I would I would just do the obvious thing. Take Dylan Harper number two. Maybe with that 14th pick, you can get a shooter or some uh some help big man help. You can go into free agency, you could sign a shooter. I mentioned a Luke Canard type a couple weeks ago, like someone like that. You can maybe sign a backup big man. Like people will some of these vets will want to come here now. you know, you know, I don’t go get a Brook Lopez or if if you know if Milwaukee is blowing that up or get a get a Clint Capella or something like that or who’s the guy from uh the the French kid from uh Philadelphia would be like a really cheap option. Gabelli Gabelli. Yeah, Pearle. Yeah. Something, you know, you can there’ll be ways to fill in those blanks. You don’t have to like you don’t have to pass over a a potential star talent at number two just because he doesn’t fit box A or B that you’re looking for. There’s other ways to fill those boxes. And when you think about um the the fit, let’s let’s explore that angle here uh and just assume that the Spurs take Dylan Harper. Um, it’s not a square peg in a round hole situation. Um, because De’Aran Fox pure point guard, like that’s his position. Um, that’s what he does. Pick and roll with Victor, all that stuff. He’s your starting point guard. That has not changed. He’s 27 years old. You have him in what can should be considered his prime years for the next several years. Dylan Harper sort of a uh he he he leans point guard but he’s kind of what they call a combo combo guard one and two. Um you can play him next to the Fox like you teams play combo guards next to point guards all the time. That works. And Stefan Castle, he’s also a combo, but he’s got some three to him, right? and and the NBA is positionless, but um it’s it’s more about who can you guard and Steph Castle it’s more about who you can guard and Stefan Castle can guard threes no problem he can guard wings those three guys while that’s not like the dream way that you you set up an NBA lineup uh ideally you’d have one guy of those three who’s just a sharpshooter um sniper uh those three guys can sort of coexist on the court at the same time, I would think. Um, and would give teams a lot of problems in the process, uh, having those three guys together. And then you, you know, you want and and maybe that that changes the way you fill out the rest of the lineup. Like Victor is not a classic big man in the middle. Like he’s going to he’s going to take care of some of the shooting himself. You need some shooting from that four spot, but that’s not a uh that’s not an inconceivable mix. I mean, not for nothing, and this is going to bother people, but it wouldn’t be I wouldn’t put it past the Spurs to draft a kid at number two and bring him off the bench for his first year. Yeah. I mean, they kind of did that with Steph Castle at number four last year for a lot of it. Yeah. Like you you might just be starting who everyone thinks they’re going to start already and bringing Harbor off the bench at least to start, you know? Yeah. and and shooting still is a a a desperate need and uh and and I think that uh um you know even if they don’t make the pick at 14 that that pick at 14 could be used to acquire some of that veteran type shooting that Jeff mentioned. Yeah. Um uh if you’re trying to draft if you’re trying to draft shooting there I think Canipple will be long gone. Um well that’s the other kid could shoot. I I was sort of alluding to that earlier. If the Spurs wanted to trade down in the in the in the Canipple range. Yeah. If Yeah. And and and that could be enough. This that’s the least sexy option between taking Dylan Harper and trading for the superstar. Uh would be find a guy find a team that is in that Canipple range and uh and trade the number two pick to that team, draft Canipple and uh presumably collect more assets in that trade. Is it just because you want to spend the next 10 years saying canible? Kind of. Kind of. Uh but yeah, there back to what we said at the beginning. The Spurs have lots of options, including the big splashy trade for the former MVP one, which we’re not discounting, but uh I think the the lesson here is that it’s not the uh obvious move that some people think it is. And they might make it. They might make it. I would I would be surprised if they do. It is fun to argue. And I appreciate Nick taking that uh taking that role in this podcast cuz we needed to have a little bit of a debate. I don’t truly disagree with you. The only one thing I do really don’t disagree and I don’t like trading down to eight, but that’s you know bigger that’s smaller there. I like I I’d take two. I’d take him at two. I’d take Harper at two and trying to trade the 14 pick all things be honest. Yeah. Do we think they’re I mean do we think they’re going to make both picks? I would bet against that because I mean we have the we kind of have the blueprint from last year where they took the four and traded the eight. I think if they if they make both of those like what you’re running into is a lot of these uh is is a lot of these players on the same um schedule for their extensions and their when their contracts get expensive kind of. Yeah. And you also you also have only so many roster spots at once. And if you’re getting to the territory where you’re wanting to be a playoff team, how many rookies can you roster? You can’t all be rookies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um if if if we’re ranking the options here, um I think making both picks at two and 14 without making a trade before then is is low. before the draft, I mean, is is probably uh lowest on my set of expectations. Um I I think that uh yeah. Yeah. I I I don’t I don’t think that’s going to happen, but who knows? We’ll see. They’re going to trade on the Rock. They’re going to trade the 14th. They’re going to trade the 14th for some like pick swap in 2041 or something. Maybe they can talk into trading the two and 14 for number one. I I think I know this. We don’t have a trade. So, I I Cooper is not a Nike guy. So, I think I might be I don’t if I’m wrong about this, I apologize, but I think I think Windor was the first one yesterday to float the idea that maybe uh maybe Nico trades the number one for Giannis. But I had that thought in my head as a joke like of all the teams in the lottery, Dallas is the one that would actually consider doing that. Yeah, that would be I wouldn’t in a million years. As good as Jiannis is. It it it would it would it would not be the most surprising move Nico has made this year. That’s true. That’s true. We talk about windows though and they got Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving. Their window is I don’t know if they have a window, but I mean I don’t even know if they have a Kyrie Irving. At least not next year. True. That’s well not for the first half of it’s hard to come back from that uh from that Achilles. But I will say this uh trading the number one pick i.e. Cooper flag for Giannis would be much more um uh uh apt of of a front office that does that in Dallas than trading the number two pick for Giannis would be fitting the Spurs front office. like it would make much more sense in in way more in character. That’s what I was looking for. Be way more in character for Dallas to do that than it would be in character for the Spurs to do that. As as outrageous as it would be to trade Cooper Flag for Giannis. Um, and and not and again going back to Nick’s point, not that uh Cooper Flag is guaranteed to be what Giannis is and was because few are, but uh that wouldn’t that wouldn’t be as out of character for Dallas as as it would be out of character for San Antonio to do that. It’s in character with the NBA. Somehow the Lakers will get Giannis. Yeah. and and Giannis is a like that that would be uh for for many of the same reasons it would be fascinating in San Antonio to have Giannis playing next to Anthony Davis. Um boy and it’s it’s it’s in the Maverick’s window and Giannis is a Nike guy and Giannis is a Nike guy and defense wins championships. uh f friend of the podcast Sean Hiken had a uh had a blue sky uh ski a few weeks ago. He was ahead of the curve. He said the the obvious outcome here is the Mavs are going to win the lottery and Nico’s going to trade Cooper flag because he’s a New Balance guy and clearly does not have the Mamba mentality. So Sean Sean’s halfway there to that that it’s a good blues coming through. Yeah. So, this is this was this was a fun one. Tom, what what’s your schedule for the week? You’re in Chicago for the combine and you’re gonna get to talk to Dylan Harper soon, are you not? Yeah. Dylan Harper will be available tomorrow at approximately 12:20. So, I’ll be there for that and uh talk to a few other prospects. Um, back to Wimby real quick. Uh, Brian said on the record, you know, just that Brian Wright. Yeah, Brian right that he continues to trend. Everything everything looks really positive for him, you know, being back on time at camp next year. And then kind of hearing here out here that, you know, he said when when we talked to him at the end of the season, he hasn’t ruled out playing for the French national team at the Euro Basket tournament in August. and you know hearing things out here that that’s still in play. Uh just just underscoring how positive it looks right now for him having a full recovery from the blood clock. A lot of encouraging signs. I’m glad we clarified that was Brian Wright, GM of the Spurs talking about the Spurs. Yeah. What I thought it might have been Brian Johnson, the lead singer of AC/DC talking about the Well, we had just talked about Brian Winhor, so Oh, I see. Nice. So, yeah, I I like to clarify to the I forgot when I forgot Wendy’s first name was Brian. Wend Wendy’s doing a good job on TV, by the way. Anyway, uh the um that’s that’s a lot to look forward to this summer is there’s never a dull moment with the local cages. Anything else you’re working on, Jeeoff, that the the listeners need to hear about before I’m ready for some dull moments, actually. No, you’re not. You’re not going to get in anytime soon. We’ll talk more about the draft. We’ll talk more about possible trades, options for team building and the wages, free agency, summer league, summer league. All that’s ahead on the Spurs Insider docket. We appreciate you all for continuing to tune in. Until we see you the next time, take care of each other and keep it real. [Music]

Columnist Mike Finger and Spurs beat reporters Jeff McDonald and Tom Orsborn discuss the Spurs winning the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft lottery and if they should keep the pick and take Dylan Harper or if they should trade it for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
 
*Suggested reading:*
No Flagg, but Spurs have ‘pick of litter’ after another lucky NBA Draft lottery: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/spurs-chance-select-pick-litter-lucky-night-20323699.php_
Finger: One last time, Gregg Popovich lives up to the moment: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/one-last-time-gregg-popovich-lives-moment-20309977.php_
Before helping current players, Johnson to focus on Spurs’ future: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/johnson-represent-spurs-lottery-stage-20313039.php_
Johnson gains new multi-year contract from Spurs: _https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/johnson-gains-new-multi-year-contract-spurs-20313805.php_

*Catch us everywhere: *
More episodes: _https://www.expressnews.com/interactives/podcasts/spurs-insider/_
Spurs Nation Newsletter: _https://www.expressnews.com/newsletters/spurs-nation/_
Finger on X (Twitter): _https://twitter.com/mikefinger_
Become a subscriber: _https://exne.ws/sub_