Spurs Only Team Without Player On Latest ESPN NBA Rank
The San Antonio Spurs are at the beginning stage of a rebuilding effort. They traded away first-time NBA All-Star Dejounte Murray in exchange for a haul of future draft capital.
With a rebuild comes a period where a team faces a real lack of top-level talent sets in. For the Spurs, they are at that stage perhaps more than any other team in the NBA. Other teams underwent a full tear down sooner and have managed to add some truly players with star potential.
ESPN releases an annual ranking of the top 100 players in the NBA ahead of the upcoming season. For the 2022-23 season, the Spurs were the only team not to have a single player ranked.
Keldon Johnson and Jakob Poeltl likely were the top candidates to represent the Spurs on this list but didn't quite make the cut. Johnson has the chance to take a leap forward as he fills the scoring void after the Murray trade.
Rebuilding teams including the OKC Thunder, Houston Rockets, Detroit Pistons, and Orlando Magic that were at the bottom of the standings last season have players ranked in the top 100. Each team has added premier prospects with great picks in the NBA Draft.
Even the Utah Jazz, a team that traded away two NBA All-Stars amid a full rebuild, managed to appear on the list. Mike Conley (89) and Jordan Clarkson (85) made the list, but their other key players did not, including Collin Sexton, Bojan Bogdanovic, Lauri Markkanen, and Malik Beasley.
While the individual rankings can undoubtedly be debated, the underlying sentiment is clear: the Spurs have positioned themselves well to land a premier selection ahead of a loaded 2023 NBA Draft.
If the Spurs are the lucky team that ends up with either Victor Wembenyama or Scoot Henderson, things will change in a hurry. In the meantime, doing what it takes to land one of those talents is the top priority.
You can follow Grant Afseth on Twitter at @GrantAfseth.
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