2022 NBA Draft Lottery: 3 Results Spurs should root for

3. The Lakers' pick heads to New Orleans

For all my spiteful fellow fans out there, wouldn’t this be perfect? The Los Angeles Lakers traded their 2022 first-round pick to the Pelicans in order to build a dynasty with LeBron James and Anthony “Street Clothes” Davis. Well, well, well. The Pelicans found themselves in the NBA Playoffs and the Lakers, as I’m sure you heard, were even worse than the Spurs despite having five potential Hall-of-Famers on the roster. 

The Pelicans, it seems, are doing things the right way. Adding a lottery pick to their already promising roster would just be spectacular, and it would rub some salt in the Lakers’ wounds. It should be noted that the Pelicans traded this pick to Memphis for Jonas Valanciunas, but it has a top ten protection. Should the Lakers fall out of the top 10, the last thing the Spurs need is for Memphis to add another young talent to their roster. Fortunately, there's a 99.6% chance that won't happen.

In addition to the hilarity that would be the Lakers losing out on a franchise-saving pick, the Pelicans already have Zion Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas, Herb Jones, Jaxson Hayes, and Brandon Ingram, so the odds of them selecting a player the Spurs are interested in seems unlikely. Jaden Ivey, Ochai Agbaji, or Bennedict Mathurian make more sense for the organization, so the Spurs wouldn’t miss on their guy, and the Lakers would be screwed. It’s a win-win for Spurs fans and could mark the end of the Lakers’ claim at a run of dominance if they disappoint next season.

At least the Lakers would have some consolation, as they could find a diamond in the rough in the second round. Oh, that’s right. The Spurs own their second-round pick this season.