The San Antonio Spurs Have Won The Victor Wembanyama Sweepstakes!!

Aurelien Meunier. Getty Images.

It feels like we've been waiting forever to find out who would ultimately be blessed by the Basketball Gods and be awarded the privilege of drafting Victor Wembanyama. Every clip that hit the internet for well over a year was more ridiculous than the last, including what he did today in his final game before the Draft

We've heard every cliche under the sun when it comes to Wembanyama. He's an alien, he's a unicorn, shit, Woj went on TV and with a straight face suggested that he's the greatest prospect in the history of sports. Not just in basketball or the NBA, but in all of sports!!

I know we tend to get a bit hyperbolic when it comes to prospects, but the fact that Wembanyama has been talked about like this since literally Day 1 has to tell you something. It can't all just be hot air. That doesn't mean he won't have questions or concerns once he gets into the NBA, but come on. Watch any highlight out there and you can see why he has these types of expectations. He's a bonafide franchise changer if it all pans out. Given how the game is played in 2023 and beyond, as long as he remains healthy I can't imagine he won't live up to the hype. What Wembanyama does on the basketball court makes no goddamn sense, and he does it with relative ease. At the end of the day, special is special. Those guys figure out how to make it work.

The question then became OK, so who gets him? Would a team like ORL or UTA or OKC be rewarded for their approach of not tanking and losing on purpose (until the end of the season) and instead actually trying during the year? They ended up in the Lottery anyway, but at least you could make the case they went about it the right way. 

Would one of the true tank jobs of the year come away victorious? Nobody gives a shit if you lost on purpose if you walk away with the #1 prize. Would Adam Silver pull a David Stern and rig things to send Wembanyama to a certain team? Maybe a high profile team or a big market team? There are some of those in the Lottery for sure. Despite there being some solid prospects outside #1, nobody gives a shit about those guys. Sorry. Not tonight at least. Tonight was about Victor Wembanyama and whose basketball lives would be changed forever.

After all the suspense, we now have our answer.

Man, talk about heartbreaking for the Pistons. You lose Cade Cunningham for the year which sucked, but at least you could hold onto the hope of what a historic tank job might get you. They finished as one of the three teams with the best Lottery odds only to finish 5th. That is ROUGH. That 14% chance could not have mattered less. I suppose that's the gamble of the Lottery though, crazy shit can happen. 

Same shit for the Rockets. All that losing just to not even finish in the top 3? Damn. Poor Ime Udoka I guess. 

In the end, the Spurs came out on top. They were the 3rd team that had a 14% chance and for the second time since 1997, they own the #1 pick. Quick question, what happened in that Draft? I seem to remember them taking a pretty good big man

Wembanyama is heading to one of the most respected and well-run organizations in league history, and something tells me Pop is going to do wonders for his development. It may not be the sexiest pick, but who cares? That immediately changes now that Wembanyama is a Spur. You're telling me you aren't going to watch? 

Look the Spurs stunk this year, but there's talent on that roster. Tre Jones, Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, those aren't awful building blocks. Now you get to add the greatest prospect in history to the mix to learn under a Hall Of Fame coach. Personally, I'm just happy this dude isn't in the East. Let him be the West's problem for the next 10 years. 

Who knows, for all we know this is going to be the start of another Spurs Dynasty. Could this be a potential free agent destination in a few years if Wemby really takes off? Why not? The Spurs have had a bit of a rocky rebuild so far, but it's safe to say it has ALL been worth it now.