The stakes of the NBA draft are always high. Each of the league's 30 teams are investing in at least a small portion of their future on draft night, and every pick will eventually be scrutinized to evaluate the work of every team's scouting department and personnel group. But, to be sure, the stakes are higher for some teams than others.
While much of the focus in the lead-up to the 2022 NBA draft at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on June 23 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN and ESPN app) will be on the top handful of picks, other teams selecting down the board will face a white-hot spotlight as well. The San Antonio Spurs are one of four teams (Oklahoma City Thunder, Charlotte Hornets, Memphis Grizzlies are the others) with multiple first-round picks -- Gregg Popovich and company have the ninth, 20th and 25th selections. Making all of those picks would mean San Antonio had materially impacted its roster for 2022-23 (and beyond) in a way few other teams can claim.
What would a great night look like for the Spurs? We won't know for sure until a few years down the road, but ESPN draft expert Jonathan Givony put together a plausible list of potential picks that would represent a best-case scenario for San Antonio:
Jalen Duren skies for a thunderous alley-oop slam in Memphis' win.
No. 9 pick: Jalen Duren | 6-10 | Freshman | Center | Memphis | 18.5 years old
While the Spurs are surely excited about the progress made by incumbent starter Jakob Poeltl, he's entering the final year of his contract and may not be an ideal fit with the team's timeline considering Popovich's inevitable retirement and the fact that the team is not particularly close to contending in the brutal Western Conference. With Poeltl likely to demand a healthy raise off his bargain $9.4 million salary as a 27-year-old next summer, it may make sense to start thinking about a succession plan with a younger center who can similarly anchor a defense and hopefully provide a little more upside offensively by virtue of being more explosive vertically or more skilled from the perimeter -- or hopefully both.
Enter Duren, the youngest American player projected to be picked, but also arguably the most physically gifted big man in the draft, at 6-10, 250 pounds with a 7-5 wingspan. Drawing comparisons to a young Dwight Howard, Duren is a powerful, spectacular leaper who increasingly emerged as a force inside the paint on both ends of the floor with his ferocious finishing ability and the quickness with which he gets off his feet for offensive rebounds and blocks. He has a ready-made role from day one as a lob-catching, shot-blocker with the huge catch radius he displays, the excellent timing he shows as a rim-protector and the way he uses verticality to his advantage.
Memphis freshman sensation Jalen Duren comes flying out of nowhere for the spike on Houston.
While the game moved too fast for him at times at Memphis, Duren made strides with his intensity level and flashes of skill he showed in conference play, dropping hints of passing prowess out of short roll situations and the ability to make midrange jumpers in small doses. Despite Memphis' lack of a point guard, Duren ranks fourth in this draft class in dunks. His skill level still has room to grow, as evidenced by the 63% he shot from the free throw line and the fact that he only took one 3-pointer this season, something he's been attempting to show more of during the pre-draft process.
With Popovich developing Duren every day in practice, and renowned shooting coach Chip Engelland helping him improve his jumper, there's quite a bit room for optimism regarding how Duren's game will grow in the coming years.
No. 20 pick (from Toronto): Tari Eason | 6-8 | Sophomore | Power Forward | LSU | 21.0 years old
The Spurs don't have a true power forward on their roster, mostly starting 6-foot-6 Keldon Johnson within a group of four mainly perimeter players in a smaller, versatile lineup that was able to make the NBA play-in tournament. That was partially by design on a switch-heavy team that looked to prioritize ball movement and clean offensive spacing, but for the Spurs to take another step into playoff contention, adding a long-armed, versatile forward like Eason could certainly make a lot of sense if he's still on the board at this stage.
LSU's Tari Eason takes the feed from Xavier Pinson and throws it down vs. Arkansas.
Eason's 7-2 wingspan, massive hands and ability to be an asset in pressing, switching and trapping schemes with his quickness, instincts and activity could be very attractive to the Spurs with their existing roster. Eason is one of the most multifaceted defenders in this class. He frequently drops into passing lanes, rotates for blocks and crashes the offensive glass.
Offensively, Eason has plenty of untapped upside as evidenced by the stellar 27 points per 40 minutes he averaged this season. He knocked down 36% of his 3-pointers, converted 80% of his free throws and threw down 47 dunks despite coming off the bench, rarely having plays called for him and playing on a team that ranked second-to-last in the SEC in assists. He shows flashes of creativity as a ball handler, by creating off the dribble in the half court, and is a huge mismatch with his ability to blow by slower big men with his excellent first step. It helps him score more at the free throw line.
The Spurs will scrutinize the number of high schools and colleges Eason bounced around on his well-traveled route to LSU, but the reviews from interview sessions and workouts have been fairly positive thus far. Eason's measurements, two-way productivity and upside might be too good for the team to pass on if he falls to this spot.
No. 25 pick (from Boston): Jaden Hardy | 6-4 | Freshman | Shooting Guard | G League Ignite | 19.9 years old
With their final pick of the first round, the Spurs can afford to take a swing on the player with the biggest upside possible, in hopes of striking gold like they previously did late in the first round with Keldon Johnson, Derrick White and Dejounte Murray.
Hardy started the season projected as a top-five pick, but his stock slid quite a bit after an extremely inefficient season that was marred by poor shot selection, too many turnovers and defensive lapses that contributed to Ignite's 9-18 record.
The amount of freedom Hardy was given on an Ignite team with very few go-to scoring options may not have been the best thing for him, as he hunted shots relentlessly all season and never really learned the value of slowing down, letting the game come to him and doing more little things that contribute to winning.
After a year with the ultimate green light, the best adjustment for Hardy might be a season under a Hall of Fame coach such as Popovich. Hardy won't have to look far in the locker room to find a player with some similar question marks about shot-selection and defensive intensity -- Murray, with whom he shares an agent, provides an example of how Pop helped improve his game in practice.
There are enough indicators to show the potential Hardy offers offensively, with his incredible shooting range, dynamic shot-making off the dribble and occasional flashes of passing and scoring touch around the rim by the 19-year-old. Hardy's 6-9 wingspan and solid frame suggest a player who can at least hold his own defensively as he improves. Having a defensive player of the year candidate alongside him in Murray to cover the stronger of backcourt matchups could be advantageous early in his career.
No. 38 pick (from LA Lakers): Khalifa Diop | 7-0 | International | Center | Gran Canaria | 20.3 years old
The Spurs were at one point synonymous with drafting international players, finding considerable success with the likes of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Boris Diaw, Patty Mills, Tiago Splitter, Fabricio Oberto and many others, even going back to Tim Duncan from the Virgin Islands by way of Wake Forest.
For whatever reason, it's become a smaller part of the team's identity as of late, with only two international players -- Poeltl from Austria and Canadian rookie Joshua Primo being part of the team's rotation last season.
That's likely due to the rest of the NBA investing more in international players since most clubs employ multiple scouts who live in Europe full-time and the league office has placed a greater emphasis on putting elite prospects in front of key decision-makers at events like the Basketball Without Borders camps.
It doesn't help that the past three noncollegiate players the Spurs drafted in the first round -- Luka Samanic, Nikola Milutinov and Livo Jean-Charles -- didn't pan out.
Diop, who stands 7-feet with a 250-pound frame, is coming off an excellent ACB quarterfinal playoff series against arguably the best team in European basketball in Barcelona, posting 32 points and 12 rebounds in 55 minutes through three games. He's an exceptionally mobile big man who plays the game with tremendous intensity, is one of the most versatile defenders in this draft class and can still rotate fluidly to the paint to meet opponents at the summit and protect the rim.
Diop is as well-coached and experienced as any prospect, playing strong rotation minutes for 54 games on a team that made both the ACB and EuroCup playoffs. There are only a handful of 20-year-olds who could do what he did this season competing at the highest levels of competition in Europe, earning the trust of his coaching staff and having several stellar performances in important games.
While known for his defense, Diop has steadily improved offensively to the point that he's earned the trust of his coaching staff. He's one of the most prolific finishers in this draft class, averaging a dunk every 16 minutes he's on the floor, and is a capable passer out of short roll situations, even making occasional touch passes that hint at good things to come down the road. His hands can be suspect at times and he's still figuring out the nuances of screening and rolling, while his 57% from the free throw line this season doesn't suggest much potential to emerge as a floor-spacer anytime soon.
Even if Diop's upside is capped at that of a backup center in the NBA, the things he brings as a rim-runner, finisher, rim-protector and perimeter defender are very valuable. The fact that you can't find a single person who will say a bad thing about Diop's work ethic and approach has to be taken into account as well, as he's someone who clearly knows his role and isn't going to try to be someone he's not. In many ways, he fits what the Spurs typically covet in a prospect, making him a perfect fit at this stage of the draft.
Jonathan Givony is an NBA Draft expert and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and International teams.