The NBA announced that the San Antonio Spurs have won the 2023 NBA Draft Lottery, which was conducted at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago earlier this evening. The Spurs will have the first overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft that will be held on Thursday, June 22.
“The team and the city that sticks with us and put so much effort and love into the organization, it’s just amazing for them to get rewarded,” said Spurs Managing Partner Peter J. Holt immediately following the Lottery. “So many folks have been with us a long time and now everybody can feel rewarded and excited. My joy was a ‘we’ type of fun and joy.”
For the third time in franchise history, San Antonio holds the top overall pick with the previous two being Hall of Fame big men David Robinson in 1987 and Tim Duncan in 1997, who helped the Spurs start their NBA record 22-year Playoff streak from 1998-2019.
Going into tonight’s lottery, the Silver and Black held a 14.0% chance to land the No. 1 pick. Since the Draft Lottery was introduced in 1985, San Antonio has owned seven total lottery picks, fewest in the NBA.
Securing the No. 1 pick means the Spurs, who finished the 2022-2023 season with a 22-60 record, are in the prime position to draft the player at the top of every team’s wish list: Victor Wembanyama, otherwise known as “Wemby.”
