Spurs missed opportunity in draft looks worse after stellar playoff performance

The Spurs have to be questioning their first-round selection of Jeremy Sochan a few years back in the 2022 NBA Draft. The Baylor Bear was taken with the ninth overall pick that summer, and while he's a likeable player with great defensive skills and intriguing upside, Jalen Williams has already turned into a borderline star.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were on the clock three picks later and picked Williams up from Santa Clara. The rest is history. He's a key cog in OKC's rotation, and they just earned the number one seed in the Western Conference by a wide margin.

The next step for him is showing his playoff chops, and if game one against Memphis was any indication of what he's capable of, we must acknowledge the clear miss in the 2022 NBA Draft.

Jalen Williams would have fit perfectly next to Wembanyama

J-Dub began making an impact the moment he stepped foot in the NBA. He averaged 14.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. He was second in Rookie of the Year voting (Paulo Banchero).

6'6" with a 7'2" wingspan, Williams has been a dog on defense. He's three inches shorter than Sochan, but his arms are two inches longer, allowing him to get into passing lanes and disrupt offenses with more consistency.

In game one of this year's playoffs, he scored 20 points on 10/16 FG (62.5%). He went 0/4 from three, and it didn't matter. He had five rebounds, six assists, three steals, and one block in 25 minutes, helping his team blow the Memphis Grizzlies completely out of the water (or forest?) His contributions led to an absurdly high +44 in plus/minus.

If you're unfamiliar with this game, you might think to yourself, "But the Spurs need guys who can shoot, and you said he went 0-4 from three." However, that was just a bad game from deep. He's a career 38% three-point shooter. Before the end of this series, he'll hurt the Grizz from beyond the arc just as he did in game one by doing virtually everything else you can possibly do on a basketball court.

The Polish Prince has been a good player for the Spurs, but he's been a controversial one. Fans are split on how much they like him because there's no way to tell how much he can improve. There is no dispute in OKC's fanbase on Jalen Williams. How could there be? He averaged 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.6 steals per game this season and made the All-Star Team.

Sochan has been solid, but Williams has been awesome, and that's the difference. The Spurs missed out on that pick, but hopefully, they'll make up for it this summer when Adam Silver steps to the podium, ready to reveal the next member of the Silver and Black.