Way-too-early 2023 NBA Draft big board has sky-high potential

October is here, the NBA preseason is underway, and so begins what could end up feeling like one of the longest seasons for the San Antonio Spurs in decades. The departure of Dejounte Murray finally marks the beginning of a full-scale rebuild for the organization that saw over 20 years of playoff success. While some, including myself, are excited for this new, albeit likely tumultuous era of Spurs basketball, others can't help but think of some of the worst-possible outcomes for the team, including the Draft Lottery not being kind toward the Spurs.

The seven-foot Frenchman Victor Wembanyama is viewed by many already as the crown jewel of the 2023 NBA Draft, for reasons that we'll discuss in a bit more detail later. Others have some concerns about Wembanyama and think that the G-League Ignite's Scoot Henderson could be just as good of a selection in the draft, again, for good reasons which we'll discuss later. But the point that I want to drive home to Spurs fans early on in this draft cycle is that the 2023 NBA Draft should not be viewed as "Victor Wembanyama or bust," nor should it be viewed as "Scoot Henderson or bust."

Not only does this draft already appear to be just as deep with talent as the 2022 NBA Draft, but all signs point toward the 2023 draft having even more top-end talent in the lottery compared to the year before. It's still very early in the draft cycle and things could always begin to go wrong, but I am comfortable saying, even now, that this year's draft will produce several multi-year All-Stars and All-NBA candidates.

The college basketball season is now only about a month away, and we want to give Spurs fans more names to get excited about outside of Wembanyama and Henderson, as well as ease concerns that a pick outside of the top two would be a failure. It's worth emphasizing that this list of prospects is coming very early; do not be surprised if some names fall out of these conversations in the future while other names currently off our radar enter the mix. But without further ado, these are our top prospects to watch coming into fall.