During Wednesday evening's NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs' brass will look to add another young cornerstone to their franchise after what was one of the greatest rookie seasons in NBA history by last year's number one overall draft pick Victor Wembanyama during the 2023-24 season. While the Spurs' roster as a whole clearly still needs quite a bit of work via the draft and free agency before the team can be competitive, there's an argument to be made that Wembanyama could legitimately break into the top-15 player discussion this season and ascend quickly from there.
The most glaring weakness on this Spurs' roster right now is their production–or lack thereof–out of the point guard position, as the team's lack of playmaking to get Wembanyama the ball in ideal situations was made abundantly clear throughout this past season. One player in the upcoming NBA Draft who figures to fit this bill to a tee is former Kentucky basketball guard Reed Sheppard, who is expected to be a lottery pick this year.
The Spurs currently have the number four and number eight picks in the draft, but one person who thinks that San Antonio could swing a deal with the Atlanta Hawks and net the number one overall pick is none other than The Ringer's Bill Simmons.
“Reed Sheppard, you laid out the case for him last week, is by far the most fun fit next to Wemby for a variety of reasons and part of me wonders would they just trade up because everybody thinks Houston likes Sheppard at three,” said Simmons, via The Bill Simmons podcast. “Maybe you trade up from four to one give up something extra, not number eight, but some one of those other picks they have and just grab Sheppard at one.”
What should the Spurs do?
As Simmons mentioned, there is a chance that the Spurs could trade with the Hawks without having to give up their number eight overall pick, meaning the team would still have two selections in the top ten regardless. Interestingly enough, the Spurs have control over multiple Hawks picks over the next couple of years due to the 2022 Dejounte Murray trade, meaning the team could potentially entice a freefalling Atlanta franchise at the opportunity to get one or two of those back.
As for Sheppard, the guard shot above 50 percent from three point range this season and also played some solid defense for Kentucky despite his relatively small size at the guard position. His playmaking and basketball IQ could certainly help out a Spurs' team that oftentimes seemed to forget that they had one of the tallest players in NBA history on the floor with them at any given time last year.
Of course, even with competent guard play, the Spurs will still need to surround the defensive maestro that is Wembanyama with some better point of attack defenders and shooting to truly come into their own, but it would be a step in the right direction to be sure.
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