Spurs fans flip out over expected Draft Lottery result

When the San Antonio Spurs were on deck at the 9th spot of the NBA Draft Lottery, there was a 20.2% chance they'd instead sneak into the top four. As you probably know by now, that didn't happen, and the Silver and Black will likely be selecting at that slot in June's Draft unless they find a way to work out a trade.

Going into the evening, there was a greater than 50/50 shot of the Spurs picking at 9th, yet many, including myself, were optimistic that lady luck would shine down on the franchise that refused to tank in 2022. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, as Orlando, Oklahoma City, Houston, and Sacramento were the big winners of the night.

This was undoubtedly a blow to the Spurs, who had a chance at Paolo Banchero, Chet Holmgren, or Jabari Smith if they moved up. Still, it wasn't exactly an unexpected result, and San Antonio still has several picks, assets, and free agency options to properly re-tool this summer.

Was there only a one-in-five shot San Antonio would get lucky? Yes. Did that matter to some fans? Not exactly. As I enjoy doing from time to time, I scoured Twitter to find some of my favorite "the world is ending" tweets after the Spurs landed exactly where math said they would.

We begin with a fan upset with the Spurs fighting for a playoff spot and already predicting they'll likely have a losing record through 2025.

If #Spurs aren’t careful in managing their W-L record, especially in relation to Pop’s stubbornness, there’s a good chance of regressing to the pre-Admiral era: 6-straight losing seasons & years prior w/they were strictly a pretender. All because they want to scrape into POs.
— Gregory Navarro (@GD_Navarro) May 18, 2022

One fan went even further, looking into his crystal ball for the next 20 years! I'm curious if he thinks the Spurs will have moved to Las Vegas by then.

This team is gonna be middle of the pack and won’t get a franchise player for the next 20 years.

Play-in wasn’t worth it.
— nostra. ? (@iCarpeVinum) May 18, 2022

Then there's Tom, who used the benefit of expected results to point out why the Spurs should've purposely tanked since the "likely hood" of finding a franchise-changing player at 9th is terrible.

This is why the San Antonio Spurs should’ve tanked. NBA is all about star players and the likely hood of getting a franchise changing player at the ninth pick is terrible. Time to clean house on all executive management @spurs
— Tom Rugg (@TherealTRUGG) May 18, 2022

Sorry, DeMar DeRozan, Dirk Nowitzki, and Tracy McGrady -- your draft position is cursed.

I knew what it would be going into it, and I’m still mad anyway. Mad all over again. Stupid, selfish, short sighted management decisions. It doesn’t *have* to be this way. Dammit.
— ChiChiandPato (@ChiChiandPato) May 18, 2022

Some fans tried to reason with the Debbie Downers. No word yet on if it worked.

Idk what the Spurs should have done differently. Tanking, to me, means you play young guys who have a chance to eventually contribute to the team. Idk which players could have played more/less to achieve tanking while playing promising young talent.
— Shawn (@shoffman25) May 18, 2022

The bottom line is the Spurs would've greatly benefitted from a big leap in the Lottery and could've potentially found their next star if that happened. But not moving up doesn't immediately mean they're doomed. I find it strange how so many people forget how often stars and superstars are drafted outside of the top five or even top 10 in many cases.

Even worse is the "I told you so" argument after the fact. The players, coach, and organization simply will never purposely tank -- at least not with all of these guys. I think that's been well established, so beating that same drum after every negative event is old and tiring.

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