The San Antonio Spurs just made the NBA Finals. That sentence is still settling in for a lot of people, including the Spurs themselves. What started as another season built around Victor Wembanyama’s development turned into something entirely different. They went from a fun League Pass curiosity to a legitimate contender, and they did it faster than anyone expected.
But the Finals also exposed something. The Knicks bullied them. New York brought physicality, rebounding, and interior toughness that San Antonio simply couldn’t match for long stretches. Wembanyama spent too many possessions fighting alone in the paint, and it wore the team down. That series loss should shape everything the Spurs do this offseason, starting with the No. 20 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
The Spurs aren’t drafting for potential anymore. They’re drafting for a team that just reached the Finals and wants to get back. Wembanyama is already a superstar. Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper have proven they can play winning basketball around him. The roster has real holes, though, and the biggest one is in the frontcourt.
The guy who doesn’t fit
Karim Lopez is going to tempt a lot of teams in the late first round. The Mexican wing has size, athleticism, and moments of pure electricity in transition. On the open floor, he can look like a top-10 pick. Scouts love his physical tools. It’s easy to watch a few highlights and imagine a future All-Star.
The problem isn’t talent. It’s fit.
Lopez’s half-court game is still shaky. His jumper comes and goes. Shot selection can be genuinely bad at times, and that’s a problem in a Spurs offense built on quick reads and high-quality looks. Wembanyama’s gravity opens up space, but only if the guys around him are making the right decisions and knocking down shots. Lopez tends to force things. He hunts difficult looks instead of letting the offense flow. In a playoff series, defenses would dare him to beat them from the perimeter. That’s not a risk San Antonio should be eager to take.
Even if Lopez develops into a solid NBA wing, he doesn’t solve the problem that matters most. The Spurs need frontcourt toughness. They need someone who can absorb contact, grab rebounds in traffic, and take pressure off Wembanyama on the defensive end. Lopez is a perimeter player. His value comes from athleticism and versatility, not physicality in the paint. Drafting him with the 20th pick would be a bet on upside that ignores what the Finals just taught this franchise.
What the Spurs should be looking for
The Spurs are in a strange position. They have a generational talent in his prime, a young core that already works, and a draft pick that falls in a range where impact players are hard to find. That means they can’t afford to get cute. They need a guy who can plug in and help right away. High basketball IQ. Toughness. A willingness to do the dirty work. Those are the traits that will keep San Antonio in the hunt, not raw upside from a project who might figure it out in three years.
Lopez might become very good. In a different situation, taking him would make sense. But the Spurs aren’t rebuilding anymore. They’re chasing championships. And right now, that means picking for need over potential.
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