Spurs vindicated once again as struggling guard they passed on gets traded

On 2024 draft night, the San Antonio Spurs had a prime opportunity to add serious young talent with two top ten picks. They selected Stephon Castle fourth overall, and at eighth, fans hoped they were going to bring in Rob Dillingham before they received an offer they couldn’t refuse.

The Minnesota Timberwolves sent San Antonio two first-round picks for the rights to Dillingham. In the moment, it was a solid deal, but some people felt like the Spurs should have held onto him.

Not even two years later, those people have been proven wrong, and the Spurs look like geniuses for passing up on Dillingham.

San Antonio clearly made the right move by passing up on Rob Dillingham

In the midst of what’s been a crazy trade deadline, the Timberwolves traded Rob Dillingham as part of a larger package going to Chicago in exchange for Ayo Dosunmu. Dilly wasn’t even the centerpiece of the deal—he was a throw-in alongside four second-round picks.

The writing was on the wall for a while with Dillingham. He struggled majorly to crack Minnesota’s rotation, even with their lack of ball handling. When he was on the court, the young guard looked uncomfortable. He’s been an inefficient shooter, an overdribbler, and a defensive liability. In 84 games with the Wolves across 1.5 seasons, he shot 39.8% from the floor.

Making it as a little fella in today’s NBA is tough, to say the least. Players have to be extremely talented to overcome the constraints of their small frames. So far, Dillingham hasn’t proven himself to be an outlier or anything close to it. He’s still just 21 years old, and he certainly could get better in a new scenario, but for now, his career is on a sharp decline.

As Dillingham’s stock continues to plummet, it becomes more obvious that the Spurs absolutely fleeced Minnesota in that trade on 2024 draft night. The picks they received have far more value than Rob's at this point, and they still walked away with one of the best players in that draft class, Stephon Castle. That’s why the Wolves are undoubtedly kicking themselves right now while San Antonio looks on and laughs.