The Spurs moved up from No. 8 to No. 2 in the NBA draft lottery on Monday. As Sam Vecenie of The Athletic writes, Rutgers guard Dylan Harper is “nearly unanimously” viewed by league executives and scouts as the second-best prospect in the 2025 class.
However, San Antonio just traded for star point guard De’Aaron Fox in February and also has Rookie of the Year winner Stephon Castle. All three guards are at their best with the ball in their hands, which may make Harper’s fit a little awkward at first. For what it’s worth, he recently expressed confidence about the possibility of playing alongside Fox and Castle.
The majority of the NBA sources Vecenie has spoken to believe the “most likely outcome” is that San Antonio will keep the No. 2 pick and select Harper. But the value of that pick — and having Harper on a rookie scale contract for the next four years — could open another possibility: a potential trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo, should he become available.
“If the Spurs paired Giannis and (Victor Wembanyama), they would be the favorite to win the title next year,” one Eastern Conference executive told Vecenie. “They’d have two guys who might be top-five players in the league next year on the same team. Plus, they fit. They’d have a dominant defense that no one would be able to score against inside, and they’d have the ability to play five-out in an even more devastating way than the Bucks did with Brook Lopez if they surrounded Giannis and Wemby with the right wings.”
Here are some more draft-related rumors, mostly from Vecenie:
- Vecenie hears the Bucks still want to keep Antetokounmpo, but it’s unclear if he will seek a change of scenery after spending his first 12 NBA seasons in Milwaukee. If Giannis does request a trade, the draft lottery results could be a boon for the Bucks. As Vecenie explains, while it isn’t known if the Spurs would actually offer the No. 2 pick as part of a package for Antetokounmpo, people around the league are very high on Harper, and Milwaukee could leverage his possible inclusion in a trade to try and create a bidding a war between San Antonio and any other interested suitors, with the Rockets viewed as another possible landing spot. According to Vecenie, Harper as a centerpiece to an offer would hold more league-wide appeal than Castle, who is a more polarizing prospect due to question marks about his shooting.
- The Sixers landing the No. 3 pick in the lottery could also be beneficial to the Bucks, Vecenie writes, since president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has historically been one of the most aggressive suitors for star players. The third pick doesn’t have as much value as the second in this draft, but it’s still an asset that Milwaukee could try to leverage in negotiations.
- Vecenie hears the Sixers are expected to be aggressive in looking for roster upgrades after acquiring the No. 3 pick and are expected to listen to offers from teams interested in moving up in the draft. However, if Philadelphia stands pat, it’s not yet clear which prospect it would prioritize. Ace Bailey is viewed as more of a long-term project instead of a player who can help a team win right now, Vecenie notes, and there are question marks about the fit and/or value of selecting V.J. Edgecombe, Tre Johnson or Kon Knueppel at No. 3.
- According to Vecenie, there appears to be a “dead zone” outside of the top eight for point guards who aren’t great at playing off the ball at this stage in their development, with the majority of the teams in the nine-to-18 range already having lead guards. Vecenie suggests that prospects like Jeremiah Fears, Nolan Traore and Jase Richardson have a chance to slide on draft night if they aren’t selected in top eight.
- Former Washington State forward Cedric Coward seems to be leaning toward keeping his name in the draft, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN (Twitter link). Coward plans to transfer to Duke if he stays in college, but that possibility sounds “increasingly unlikely,” says Givony. Coward, who started his college career at Willamette University, a Division III school, is ranked No. 35 on ESPN’s big board. He recently sat down for an extensive interview with Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports (YouTube link).
More fodder for fantasy teams. The economic realities of the nba make it impossible for the Spurs to pay Giannis, extend Fox and have money to keep Wemby later. Plus Wemby is still a year or two away from being ready to win a championship.
De’Aaron Fox’s 1 year $37M contract is almost a perfect 1-1 match with Moses Moody’s (starting as of yesterday) 3 year $39M deal. If the Spurs are set on Harper, then Fox in his walk year becomes useless to them. This also frees up more money for the Spurs to sign everyone else by paying Moody $39M instead of whatever Fox will get at the end of this year.
Fox fits better on a true contender at GSW. Moody is a long term building block piece who will be a solid starter or strong 6th man in this league by the end of his deal, once he gets away from Kerr. He’s flashed everything, he just needs 30 MPG for 3 months to find stability. Kerr never afforded him that luxury for some reason, the Spurs can.
20 nba teams could offer something better than a trade centered around Moody for Fox.
20? lmao you dont know how anything works in the NBA, go back to to video games
“could” = you dont have a point if its not “will”
Apparently you don’t know how anything works in the NBA based on your perception of knowledge around salary exchanges, not to mention the horrible lopsided deal that would be for the Spurs.
If I were you I wouldn’t be throwing rocks at glass houses. Now, go back to your video games.
Impressively bad take. That’s not how contract matching works and terrible talent comparison.
You do not understand how real world NBA trades work. 1 year of a star isnt worth what you think it is.
Davey J does not know ball and has on this recent thread been exposed by Luke Adams that Davey J does not also understand how matching salaries for NBA trades work.
Moody’s cap hit next season will be $11.6MM. The Warriors would need to add a lot more salary to a package to legally trade him for a player earning $37MM.
So, add Buddy Hield?
The sixers should be trying to get younger. They literally got older last off season and all it did was lead to more games missed. Staying at 3, and getting a young up and coming player makes sense. People keep talking about Embiid timeline. He really doesn’t have one, he is never healthy. U can’t build around him anymore. That door is closed.
I think the question for them is whether there is someone available at #3 who can help them win and who they can give 25+ minutes per night of playing time. It can’t be a risky development project or another small backcourt guy.
The question with the Sixers always is are they willing to finally build a team instead of just picking random Stars and putting them around Embiid.
That strategy, add 2 stars and hope it works out, has failed miserably at least 3 times in the past decade, including the Paul George most recent version.
Sixers should draft a young player to add to Maxey and McCain and FORGET Embiid. Trade him NOW. End The process and start a new team. If not, Sixers will lose.
To get Giannis one or both of Maxey and McCain will be in the deal. Then you have a tired old and hurt Embiid and Giannis. Not a championship level team.
Who is going to trade for Embiid right now? He needs to show that he can play before someone is going to take on that contract.
Morey doesn’t need to be a moron, keep it simple. Edgecomb.
Steph Castle is a really nice young guard but Dylan Harper is clearly a higher level of prospect. Trading Harper instead of Castle would be a terrible decision & I expect Harper to be a Spur (& a perennial all-star) for a very long time.
One thing I’d like to point out is De’Aaron Fox has not resigned yet and is a FA after next year with $37M coming off the books. If the Spurs don’t see him lining up with their timeline/vision/scheme, I expect Harper to be drafted. Personally I think Harper should be drafted regardless and let Mitch Johnson make it work. Good coaches adjust to their players strengths and concepts. Also, I expect one of the teams that fell out of the top 3 to possibly offer a bounty of a haul to try and pry away the 2nd pick. The only way I see that happening is if Spurs or Bucks are unwilling to come with any real traction for Giannis.
Fox makes more sense on other teams in this case, I would trade him.
Scottie, Agbaji, Jamison Battle, 3 firsts for Giannis
The league would never allow Giannis to leave the US TV market.
Watch Cedric turn into one of the best prospects
San Antonio should offer Fox, Sochan, Johnson and future picks to the 76ers for PG, Gordan and the 3rd pick.
Select Harper, Bailey and with the 13th pick hopefully a decent PF is available
PG is done at this point. He’d only hamper their success and clog the cap room.
They would have a young core to develop together and by the time to extend everyone PG will be gone.
Harper, Castle, Bailey or someone else, ? Asa Newell, Wemby
They can figure out trading PG in the future or wait. He can sit a year
Paul George and pick 3 for Middleton, Smart and pick 18
Maxey Smart Middleton Fleming/Yaxel Embiid
McCain Walker Oubre … Drummond
Council Bona
Get out of the PG contract, Smart and Middleton give us 1 last chance as both are on expiring deals. Again risking it with old injury prone players but atleast if we fail this time we can clear the books.
On paper Embiid first option, Maxey second and then good contributions from Middleton, McCain Walker and Oubre. Defensively Smart is a beast, Middleton is solid and Embiid down low all offer something.
As for Washington they have to swallow Paul George’s contract but now have picks 3 and 6 in the draft. They’d be happy with Ace Bailey at 3. Then a 6 anyone’s guess if they grab one of the bigs or reach for one of the point guards or simply just take best available player and forget about fit.
They would have to include the 6th pick if they really wanted that trade to work.
Nah PG has 3 years at 50 mil left on his deal, whereas Smart and Middleton both have 1 year deals. You get two good win now vets and out of PG’s contract.
Give up the 3rd and get the 18th.
Wizards wouldn’t take back all that extra money just to move up 3 spots.
I said this two months ago
Trade Fox. Harper, Castle, Vassell, and Wemby make a solid starting four with room to sign or trade for a star 3 or 4 spot player. Fox has one year left and SA isn’t a place that players necessarily want to stay, as demonstrated by Leonard, Murray, and DeRozen. With those kids they have a solid few years ahead of them that could change their mind if successful – creating their own dynasty.
Not sure what match is out there that would make perfect sense for both teams (Durant, Randle come to mind, though not perfect), but someone like Fox would certainly interest some team out there.
Trading Fox would be a pretty crappy thing to do after he forced a trade to San Antonio. If they trade anyone you trade Castle, sure he won rookie of the year but it was a historically weak draft class. The kids high energy, plays decent defense but he doesn’t have a jumper.
Harper is 6’6″-6’7″, he’s big enough to play Shooting Guard. If they can’t land Giannis they should move Castle to the bench and start Harper and Smart along with Vassell, Sochan and Wembanyama.
Some of these fantasy trades are funny. Spurs are in a great place and a lot of franchises are trending down. Off-season can change a lot. I would be fine drafting harper, moving castle to super sub 6th man role with keldon Johnson. Fox, harper, barnes, champangie/ vassell and wemby would make a really nice starting 5. Keldon, castle, sochan, champangie/ vassell as three main bench guys. Wesley is a nice hustle player and mamu is nice in certain situations. They have around 9 million in cap space with bassey 2.5 non guaranteed pushes that to about 12 million. Sign Steven Adams or brook lopez if possible give wemby some protection using mid level. Resign cp3 to minimum. Take the 10 million in cap trade the 14 pick and branaham for a nice 3 and d player if possible. Let this team grow together or package some this up for KD since he should be cheaper and is a bridge player for a year or two.