5 Stars the San Antonio Spurs missed drafting by a single pick

Over the years, the San Antonio Spurs have been lauded for their exceptional work involving the NBA Draft. They have made some of the best draft selections in history, selecting all-time great players and finding lesser-known talent later in the draft year after year.

It is one of the main reasons they were able to build a contender for the entirety of Tim Duncan's career, and why they are in prime position to win games again in the near future with Victor Wembanyama at the helm. But even the best organizations in professional sports have their flaws.

The Spurs have had their fair share of draft misses over the years, including several times where they missed out on a star-level player by just a single pick in the draft. These are five times San Antonio came one pick away from drafting a star that could have changed their history.

1. Tyrese Haliburton, 2020

One of the best point guards in the Eastern Conference today nearly ended up with the Spurs on draft night. In 2020, San Antonio had the eleventh pick in the lottery, and had several players on their radar. There had been rumors they were considering taking Iowa State point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

But they ended up going with the talented shooting guard out of Florida State, Devin Vassell. As we see today, that was far from a bad pick, as most would consider Devin to be the Spurs' second-best player behind Wembanyama.

But the very next pick after Vassell was made by the Indiana Pacers, and they selected Haliburton. Since then, Tyrese has become one of the best players from that draft, winning the Rookie of the Year award and taking home two All-Star selections as well. Spurs fans probably still cringe knowing they could have had Hali next to Victor.