Did the San Antonio Spurs Make a Mistake in Drafting Lonnie Walker?

Should the San Antonio Spurs have used this draft pick on a big man?

The biggest hole the Spurs needed to fill via the 2018 Draft was the one in their frontcourt. A then 37-year-old Pau Gasol had just started 63 games alongside LaMarcus Aldridge. To say San Antonio needed an injection of youth into their frontcourt is a gross understatement.

To be fair, the Spurs did address this when they traded Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to the Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and the draft pick that would eventually become Keldon Johnson. But at the time of the 2018 Draft, their frontcourt consisted of LMA, Pau, Rudy Gay, a malcontent Kawhi, and a few other players who would soon find themselves out of the league.

Using their draft pick on either one of Robert Williams or Mitchell Robison, who went 27th and 36th, respectively, could have drastically changed the Spurs' fortune.

It took some time for Robert Williams to carve out a role on the Boston Celtics but he's arrived this season, starting every game he's been available for while averaging a respectable 9.8 pts. 8.9 reb, and 2.1 blocks per contest.

Robinson has been heavily used in the Knicks lineup since he was drafted. He led the league in field goal percentage in the '19-20 season and has built a reputation as an impressive, albeit inconsistent, rim-runner and shot blocker.

Given what the Spurs needed at the time and what these two have become, both Robinson and Williams stand out as strong examples of players the Spurs would have been better off drafting ahead of Lonnie Walker.