Spurs ring in new era with Wemby as No. 1 pick

The Victor Wembanyama era has officially begun in San Antonio, as the Spurs made him the No. 1 overall pick in Thursday’s NBA draft.

Wembanyama, a 7-foot-5 French phenom with an 8-foot wingspan, walked across the stage at the Barclays Center in New York to shake NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s hand and formally mark the start of his new career.

An emotional Wembanyama was in tears when talking with ESPN’s Monica McNutt shortly after being selected.

“It’s accomplishing something that I’ve been dreaming of my whole life,” he said. “Hearing that sentence from Adam Silver, I’ve dreamed of it so much, I gotta cry.”

Wembanyama, 19, is considered by many to be a generational talent — a player who can defend and play above the rim but also move with such fluidity that he can also hit step-back 3-pointers off one leg.

When the Spurs won the right to draft Wembanyama by winning the lottery on May 16, Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt leaped with joy from his seat on stage inside Chicago’s McCormick Place Convention Center.

“It’s going to be unbelievable,” Holt said that night. “Our future was already bright. Now it’s going to be through the moon.”

In October, Wembanyama announced his presence on the national stage during two exhibition games in Las Vegas with his Metropolitans 92 squad taking on the G League Ignite to showcase both Wembanyama and Ignite guard Scoot Henderson.

Wembanyama had 37 points, four rebounds and five blocks in the first game and followed that up with 36 points and 11 rebounds in the second game.

During the French LNB Pro A League regular season, Wembanyama averaged 20.7 points, 10.2 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, leading the league in all three categories. Wembanyama was named the league’s MVP and led Metropolitans 92 to the French league finals this season.

“People talk about generational talent, and they only think on-court skill, but it’s bigger than that,” Spurs general manager Brian Wright said on May 16. “His ability to be a great teammate, his ability to think the game, unique challenges, you see him doing things that you wouldn’t even have guessed someone could do. His approach, his professionalism. When you use the word generational talent, it extends beyond your ability to put the ball in the basket. And he’s unique in so many ways.”

This is the third time the Spurs have won the NBA lottery and earned the right to pick No. 1. They hit big on the other two picks — David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan in 1997, both of whom played their entire careers with the Spurs and are considered among the best big men of all time.

Now, Wembanyama begins his career with the coach Robinson finished with and Duncan played his entire NBA career under: Gregg Popovich, the winningest coach in NBA history.

Under Popovich, the Spurs made 22 consecutive trips to the playoffs from 1998 to 2019, which is tied for the longest such streak in NBA history (matching the Syracuse Nationals/Philadelphia 76ers streak from 1950 to 1971).

The past four seasons, however, the team hasn’t managed to finish over .500, going 32-39, 33-39, 34-48 and then 22-60 last season. Bottoming out during the 2022-23 season, however, gave the Spurs a 14.0% chance of hitting the No. 1 pick.

Wembanyama joins a Spurs team that was heavily reliant on young players a season ago. The Spurs’ top five scorers in total points were all 25 years old or younger, and that didn’t include last year’s No. 9 overall pick, Jeremy Sochan, who averaged 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds in 56 games played.

Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, Malaki Branham and Sochan help form the core of what San Antonio has moving forward. The Spurs also have 28 draft picks, including 11 first-rounders, over the next six seasons.