ESPN’s forecast for the San Antonio Spurs chances this NBA season is a bit of a good news/bad news situation for the storied franchise. On the plus side, they’ve got Victor Wembanyama, who’s added 25 pounds of muscle this offseason and is sure to build on his already promising skillset from his Rookie of the Year-winning first season in the league.
On the other hand, they still are projected to have just a 1% chance to make the playoffs this season. With San Antonio still building around Wemby, ESPN’s Basketball Power Index doesn’t think they’ll be competitive this season.
Although counterintuitively, that could be scary for the rest of the league. They’re projected to finish with a 31-51 record. And with just a 1% chance at the playoffs, there’s only 1 team with a lower percentage:
The Washington Wizards, who are at a miserable 0%.
But if the Spurs finish with a bottom-3 record, they’ll be tied for the highest odds for the #1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. And that pick is already heavily anticipated to be the budding superstar from Duke, Cooper Flagg.
The hype for Cooper Flagg is building astronomically by the day, so take this with a grain of salt, but by optimistic predictions, Flagg could be just what the Spurs need to take them into contender status for the next decade.
Imagine an explosive scorer next to Wemby, a playmaking mastermind lnext to Wemby, an All-Defensive beast next to Wemby. Flagg is all of those things and then some.
If the Spurs follow ESPN’s projection for them and snag the #1 pick, that pairing could be a real possibility in the 2025-26 season. And if they achieve it, it’ll bring to mind the last great pairing of San Antonio big men — the legendary David Robinson and Tim Duncan.
The major difference with those two was of course the fact that David Robinson was on the tail end of his career when Tim Duncan came along, and Duncan was just getting started on his illustrious pro journey. But the two did have six seasons together, and brought the first two NBA titles to San Antonio.
In this modern NBA landscape, it’s rare for two star players to play on the same season for six seasons or more — so if the Spurs can somehow get Flagg and Wemby together for even that long would be a major win.
So while Spurs fans face the prospect of another lackluster season (at least when Victor Wembanyama‘s not on the court), just remember the very enticing silver lining potentially looming in the 2025-26 NBA draft, Cooper Flagg. Bringing the second coming of David Robinson and Tim Duncan to San Antonio could be worth one more pitiful season. Flagg and Wemby paired together could be very scary for the rest of the league.
