Spurs’ worst nightmare averted further securing their championship future

Right now, the Oklahoma City Thunder are the monsters under the Western Conference bridge all comers must conquer, and they were dangerously close to adding another major weapon. The 76ers' lottery pick was top-six protected, and had it fallen outside of that range, OKC would have gained the rights to it. Nobody wanted to see that happen, especially San Antonio fans.

Imagine if they added Tre Johnson, Kon Knueppel, or Khaman Maluach to their roster. Yuck. They've gotten plenty of help from the lottery as it is.

Championship windows have a direct correlated to elite depth

The Thunder's championship window is already open right now, and it's hard to see when it might close, as it's too far into the distance. We don't have strong enough binoculars to project that far. That window, however, spreads wider based on the number of elite players on your roster.

It's why the Boston Celtics won the championship last season. It's not because they had the best player in the league or even the two best players. It's because they had the deepest group of high-level talent, so they came at you in waves, and any one of their players could go off on any given night.

That's the kind of team the Thunder have already been building. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a beast, of course, but Jalen Williams is a dog, Chet Holmgren, and Isaiah Hartenstein are really good players, and almost everyone in their rotation 1-10 shoots an above-average percentage from deep. Not to mention, they're all good-to-great defenders.

The last thing they needed was to acquire another young player at the top of one of the deepest drafts in recent memory. Now, the Spurs can focus on building their version of a basketball platoon.

San Antonio must recreate a deep team filled with versatile players

If the Spurs decide to continue their plan of building through the draft, their first pick would have to be Dylan Harper, but what about the second pick? There have been several mock drafts published since the results of the lottery.

Writers and analysts have placed a few different prospects in that spot for San Antonio, from Carter Bryant to Jase Richardson, but I believe Liam McNeeley should be the guy at 14 under these circumstances.

His shotmaking and playmaking give San Antonio another 6'7" wing who can do multiple things to threaten defenses. With less responsibility than he had at UConn, McNeeley would reach his potential much easier in a Silver and Black uniform, and the team still needs more shooting. He'll provide that.

From there, if Brian Wright can bring in Guerschon Yabusele or Naz Reid and another shooter like Luke Kennard or Gary Trent Jr., you can start the title chase. They'll have players who can shoot, dribble, and pass interchangeably in much of the rotation, and that's difficult to handle.

With Victor Wembanyama expected to take another step forward, working with De'Aaron Fox, along with the growth bound to come from Stephon Castle, the Spurs will end up in a great spot and can be much better than people realize.