San Antonio Spurs general manager Brian Wright offered a candid look at the franchise’s path to Victor Wembanyama during a recent Hard Knocks appearance.
While visiting Seattle Seahawks training camp with head coach Mitch Johnson, Wright recounted how the organization zeroed in on the French prospect years before the 2023 draft.
Wright explained that Spurs CEO R.C. Buford first encountered Wembanyama by chance in a gym during a trip to France. The teenager was about to turn 16. Buford returned and told the front office he believed he had seen the greatest player of his life.
Roughly a year later, Wright said, the team put a deliberate plan in motion to turn the roster over and position itself for a shot at drafting him.
At the time, the Spurs still featured veterans such as DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge and had made the playoffs in 2019. The subsequent years brought a clear downward shift. San Antonio failed to win more than 35 games in any season from 2019-20 through 2022-23, bottoming out at 22-60 in the campaign that produced the No. 1 overall pick.
Moves including Aldridge’s buyout and DeRozan’s departure accelerated the rebuild.
The Spurs won the lottery and selected Wembanyama first overall. He has since developed into one of the league’s premier talents, helping end a lengthy playoff drought and reach the NBA Finals.
Wright’s remarks have fueled discussion about how intentional the earlier losing seasons truly were, though the NBA has not indicated any retroactive action. The episode simply laid bare the long-term vision that reshaped the franchise around a generational prospect identified as a teenager.
