The San Antonio Spurs need to strike on undrafted free agents from 2020 NBA Draft
By Dylan Carter
Upon the completion of the 2020 NBA Draft, the San Antonio Spurs need to be prepared to offer two-way contracts with UDFAs being more valuable than ever.
Now more than ever, it’s crucial for the San Antonio Spurs to strike gold on one of the players who falls out of the 2020 NBA Draft. Over the last few seasons, we’ve seen an influx of success stories from undrafted players who gave their all and failed to meet expectations in the NBA Draft. The San Antonio Spurs started one this year in shooting guard Bryn Forbes, but it didn’t result in much.
This year’s NBA Finals highlights the importance of grooming undrafted talent. If not for the efforts of their two undrafted rookies, Duncan Robinson and Kendrick Nunn, the Miami Heat wouldn’t be in a position to compete for an NBA title. This applies throughout the league with top-tier teams using their UDFAs in the Orlando restart to gain an edge.
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The second-seeded Toronto Raptors received great output from UDFA Matt Thomas in their postseason run. A UDFA in 2016, Fred VanVleet was one of the Raptors’ best performers on the season. Former Arizona State Sun Devil Luguentz Dort started for OKC and put up a tremendous effort against the Houston Rockets in the first round. Dallas’ Dorian Finney-Smith started throughout the playoffs and made a two-way impact in the series against the Clippers.
Let’s take it back to the Spurs, who used two UDFAs consistently throughout the year. Besides Forbes, the San Antonio Spurs got a great impact from two-way center Drew Eubanks. Swiftly after the 2018 NBA Draft, the Spurs signed Eubanks onto their team and helped him develop into a legitimate backup center. During their eight seeding games, Eubanks took on a predominant role on both sides of the floor, displaying the fruits of his labor in the process.
Three organizations are known best in this league for finding undrafted talent and helping them hone their skills: Toronto, Miami and you guessed it, the San Antonio Spurs. It’s a part of the team’s identity and helped to fuel their 22-year playoff streak that included five NBA titles. All the while, the Spurs’ scouts did their due diligence and acquired intel about the most intriguing undrafted talent that could slide into the league and develop into rotation players.
The San Antonio Spurs cannot afford to miss on a UDFA on a two-way contract later this year when the 2020 NBA Draft is held in November.