Another piece of the Dejounte Murray trade has been finalized for the Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs did not compete in the Play-In Tournament this week. They are not heading to the playoffs. Their season officially ended last Sunday, although it functionally ended when Victor Wembanyama was ruled out for the season with Deep Vein Thrombosis and went on blood thinners.

That does not mean the Spurs and their fans had nothing to root for in the Platy-In Tournament, however. They became stalwart fans of whoever was playing the Atlanta Hawks as if they were the mid-2000s Phoenix Suns, celebrating the demise of the Hawks. They fist-pumped at Orlando Magic scrapping together enough offense to win. And on Friday night, they watched with bated breath as the Miami Heat pulled out an overtime victory to send the Hawks home.

To their credit, Atlanta very nearly pulled out the win and made the playoffs. They came back multiple times and forced overtime. Young center Onyeka Okongwu had one of the best games of his career, Trae Young hit multiple big shots including the game-tying basket with a second remaining to force overtime, and Georges Niang had 20 points off the bench.

Scanning the box score up and down, one name you do not see is Dejounte Murray. The former San Antonio Spurs All-Star point guard was supposed to propel the Hawks into Eastern Conference contention, but his fit with Trae Young was terrible and the Hawks moved on from him last offseason.

In a bitter twist of fate for the Hawks, however, their Play-In loss means that they are sending a lottery pick to the Spurs this year, only now beginning to pay out the cost of a trade they have already washed their hands of.

The Spurs will get a lottery pick from the Hawks

The Spurs sold high on Dejounte Murray, trading him in the summer of 2022 immediately after he made his first All-Star Game and led the league in steals. The Spurs recognized they were not in position to contend in the next few seasons, and that when they were it was highly unlikely Murray would be a piece of that new chapter. They therefore made the difficult but perceptive decision to trade him while his value was at an all-time high.

It was the summer to mortgage your future for an All-Star. The Minnesota Timberwolves traded the farm for All-Defense center Rudy Gobert. The Cleveland Cavaliers ceded control of five drafts to the Utah Jazz for Donovan Mitchell. The Atlanta Hawks, not wanting to miss out on an arms race, sent a trio of picks to the Spurs for Murray.

It was a move that seemed puzzling at the time, as Murray played the same position as Atlanta's incumbent All-Star, Trae Young. They proceeded to struggle immensely, with the Hawks failing to reach a winning record in either season. They moved on from Murray after two seasons in a prescient move of their own, landing draft capital and breakout guard Dyson Daniels from the New Orleans Pelicans.

Murray, now on the Pelicans, had a shaky start to the season before suffering a season-ending Achilles injury. It's possible that he will never again be the same player who netted a significant return for the Spurs three years ago.

It was a significant return, and the Spurs pushed the draft pick return out into the future -- likely predicting that the combination of the two would not last long. The Hawks lucked out in a way that their leap up to the No. 1 pick last year didn't happen this year -- although there is a chance that it could.

The Spurs will receive either the 13th or 14th slot in the lottery from the Hawks; Atlanta tied with Sacramento at 40-42, so by rule a coin flip will decide the order. The Spurs will know that well ahead of the NBA Draft Lottery next month to determine the draft order.

There are two benefits to receiving the Hawks' pick -- and it falling into the lottery. First, it's a better pick; it could be the 13th pick instead of the 15th or 16th pick. That's a marginal benefit but it's real.

The other benefit is minor but with a sky-high upside: the Spurs increase their odds at landing a Top-4 pick. With two picks, their chances of leaping up are increased; they will have more "lottery balls" in the cage. Their pick has a 26.3 percent chance of landing in the Top 4, a 1-in-4 chance. That increases to around 31 percent when you add in the Hawks' pick, and their chances of the No. 1 pick (hello Cooper Flagg) go up slightly as well, from six to seven percent.

Those margins matter; the Spurs have a talented team around Victor Wembyanama but their future could be transformed yet again by landing another generational talent like Cooper Flagg. Even a high-end prospect like Dylan Harper or VJ Edgecombe would be a significant boost to their young core.

The Spurs are still expecting an unprotected first-round pick swap from the Hawks next year, and another unprotected pick the year after that. Atlanta is still trapped paying out for a player they should have never traded for.

And the Spurs now have another lottery pick to add to their cache and continuing assembling a future title contender around Victor Wembanyama.