A coin flip just saved Spurs from nightmare Thunder scenario

As the San Antonio Spurs battle the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA playoffs, they just caught a major break courtesy of a coin flip. The NBA recently announced the results of draft tie-breakers.

The Spurs were on the losing end of a tiebreaker that would have given them the 19th pick instead of the 20th selection courtesy of the Atlanta Hawks. Nevertheless, they still caught a major break.

Their rivals, the Oklahoma City Thunder, owned a top-eight protected first-round pick via the Utah Jazz. However, we now know the Jazz's pick will be no worse than eighth thanks to the coin flip.

That means that the Thunder lost out on a top 10 pick in this year's draft. That's a huge break for San Antonio, who won't have to worry about OKC getting a top young prospect.

The Spurs should be laughing at the Thunder's draft misfortunes

San Antonio should be keeping a close eye on everything the Thunder does, and them striking out on landing a lottery pick is a huge deal. Better still, the Thunder missed out on yet another top-10 pick in this year's draft.

OKC has swap rights with the L.A. Clippers. Although the Clippers didn't make the playoffs, they improved their record enough to dramatically hurt the pick the Thunder will be receiving.

As a result, instead of receiving a top-5 pick, they will be picking 12th. They also have the 17th pick in this year's draft, but they face a roster crunch with 12 players under contract next season. The Spurs won't yet face those problems.

The Spurs don't have the same problems. OKC will soon have

OKC also has several young players on rookie contracts in need of playing time to figure out whether they are worth keeping. That could mean the Thunder move on from the likes of Lu Dort and/or Isiaih Hartenstein and replace them internally.

San Antonio likely hopes that'll be the case. After all, the Thunder replacing them with less experienced players could hurt them next season and going forward.

The Spurs could help push the Thunder in that direction by beating them in this year's playoffs. Them losing in the Western Conference Finals. Or hopefully sooner, may force OKC to slash salary in the short term to try and build a cheaper and better team in the long term.

The draft was their best option, but with the coin flip not going their way, they won't have a top-10 pick in this year's draft. Much to the Spurs' relief.

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