Why the Spurs were the biggest winners of the 2024 NBA draft lottery (yet again)

For the second year in a row, the San Antonio Spurs were the biggest winners of the NBA Draft Lottery.

While the Hawks (and not the Pistons) shockingly won the lottery this year, San Antonio came away from the lottery with the best possible outcome. After the lotto, the Spurs will officially have picks No. 4 and No. 8 (via the Toronto Raptors) in the 2024 NBA Draft next month.

RELATED: A look at where every team is picking after the 2024 lottery

The Spurs landed the No. 8 pick because the Toronto pick landed between No. 7 and No. 14 in the lottery. Otherwise, the Raptors would have kept their protected pick sent to San Antonio in exchange for Jakob Poeltl.

Here is what Spurs general manager Brian Wright said after the results:

“Two lottery picks gives us a great opportunity to add two young players to our young core or also see what else is out there,” said Wright. “Like we do with everything, we will evaluate all options.”

The Spurs will have an opportunity to potentially combine their picks to either move up in the 2024 NBA Draft or trade out of it entirely to try to land a win-now player to play alongside Victor Wembanyama.

San Antonio can also take multiple bites at the apple and have two lottery picks, potentially adding more than one young player to surround with the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year.

Plus, without getting the No. 1 pick again this year, they can have two slightly cheaper options on rookie scale contracts rather than paying a higher rate on their salaries.

We don’t know what the Spurs will decide but perhaps they find their point guard of the future because of this lottery.  Until then, however, check out our latest post-lottery NBA mock draft.