Spurs 57th loss comes with great news for future of the franchise

The San Antonio Spurs officially booked a bottom-three record in the NBA after falling to the Utah Jazz and picking up their 57th loss on Wednesday night. Although that may not sound like something worth celebrating, fans should be delighted their favorite franchise has locked in the best odds of landing the number one overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft.

The front office picked a perfect time to start an all-out rebuild, especially with a generational prospect like Victor Wembanyama headlining a loaded draft class also home to Scoot Henderson, Amen Thompson, and Brandon Miller. Having a 14% chance in the lottery doesn't guarantee the Spurs will secure Wemby, but the other names are terrific consolation prizes.

Keeping up with all the lottery minutiae can be confusing, so here's a brief visualization of every scenario for San Antonio.

• 1st: 14.0%
• 2nd: 13.4% 
• 3rd: 12.7%
• 4th: 12.0%
• 5th: 14.8%
• 6th: 26.0%
• 7th: 7.0%

There is a 52.1% probability that Silver and Black will select inside the top four. Seventh is the latest they can pick, though that could switch to sixth or fifth if they drop below the Pistons or Rockets for the worst or second-worst record in the NBA before the season ends.

Team Tank and their detractors will still have something to debate during the final six games of the regular-season schedule. Should the team lose out the rest of the way? Or is there value in winning a couple of games to boost morale and end the first year of the rebuild on a positive note?

Regardless of how things unfold in the homestretch, the Spurs will have a legitimate shot at taking home an organizational cornerstone. Tim Duncan and David Robinson were once-in-a-lifetime frontcourt talents that turned everything around for San Antonio. How poetic would it be if Wembayama followed in their gigantic footsteps?