Breaking News: Three Spurs who would lose minutes due to NBA draft results

Breaking News: Three Spurs who would lose minutes due to NBA draft results

Brian Wright and the Spurs front office should start to see the bigger picture now that the NBA draft is about a week away. With the Spurs holding the fourth and eighth overall selections in 2017 draft, there are outstanding players on this young team, but there are also a lot of faults that need to be fixed.

Even if the Spurs can now take care of some of the sore thumbs, the arrival of new players will drastically reduce the responsibilities that certain current players have. Three Spurs will see a decrease in playing time as a result of the NBA draft. We’ll assume, for the sake of simplicity and in spite of speculations, that every player with a contract stays on the team into the following season.

In order to provide Keldon Johnson a scoring leader off the bench during the previous season, the third-year forward started 59 games; nevertheless, none of these positions was successful for either player. Champagnie was essentially in the lineup to just give spacing and outside shooting, which he didn’t do well. Johnson struggled to lead the second unit.

The largest need for the Spurs is either a long 3-and-D wing or a dynamic point guard, and with two high lottery selections, both can be filled. This has sparked a huge debate among the fan base. A forward from the extremely excellent wing class that includes Zaccharie Risacher, Matas Buzelis, Ron Holland, Cody Williams, Dalton Knecht, and Tidjane Salaun may be available to San Antonio. If any of these players were drafted, Julian’s role may conceivably become completely irrelevant.

All of the former players—possibly with the exception of Risacher—should be available by the time the Spurs have played. Although G-League Ignite forward Ron Holland has the biggest upside of these men, we know the Spurs are interested in Tidjane Salaun, a French native.

Whatever the outcome, adding a top prospect to a squad where wing talent is at its lowest point in recent memory means that player will start right away. This takes away Julian Champagnie’s minutes and gives Keldon the freedom to take the lead once more in what is a “prove it year” for the sixth-year striker.