San Antonio Spurs draft: Big Ten conference prospects

The Big Ten conference and the National Basketball Association have quite a storied past. This historic college basketball blue-blood-laced league has produced everything from NBA legends to journeyman role players, Hall-of-Famers, and even some of the best trash talkers in league history.

For this basketball head, when I think Big Ten and its NBA ties, here is what I see:

The Michigan State Spartans have produced NBA Champions old and new in Magic Johnson and Draymond Green. Then we have the legendary 1990s 'Fab Five' members Chris Webber and Jalen Rose from Michigan. And even my main man, Michael Finley, a crucial role player for the San Antonio Spurs, was a Wisconsin Badger back in the day.

Aside from arguably the most notorious “draft bust” pick of all time, Greg Oden, from the Ohio State University, drafting a player from this conference tends to be a good investment more often than not and is simply a good thing for the Association in general.

That said, if you are the San Antonio Spurs looking at an ultra-important NBA draft on the horizon, this conference is worth taking a good hard look at. Who knows, there could be a franchise-changing youngster out there dominating the Big Ten just waiting to be scoped up by the silver and black. And if that is the case, then Spurs leadership should seize the day and go get that star.  

Here are five NBA draft prospects from this historic conference in 2023 that the San Antonio NBA franchise should consider.