The San Antonio Spurs are set to add another key piece to complement Victor Wembanyama, De’Aaron Fox, and Stephon Castle this offseason after landing the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Most of the headlines focused on the Dallas Mavericks grabbing the No. 1 pick in Monday’s lottery. But Mitch Johnson’s Spurs quietly landed the second selection, adding to a young, explosive roster that’s looking more and more like a playoff team.
San Antonio had just a 6.0% chance at the top pick and a 24.3% shot at jumping into the top four after finishing with the league’s eighth-worst record. So pulling the No. 2 pick came as a pleasant surprise—marking the third straight year the Spurs will draft in the top four.
Mitch Johnson Reacts to San Antonio Spurs Landing No. 2 Pick
Johnson’s rise through the Spurs ranks started in 2016 with the G League’s Austin Spurs. He joined Gregg Popovich’s staff in 2019 as an assistant and finished the 2024–25 season as interim head coach due to Popovich’s health issues. In early May, the team officially named him head coach.
He now takes the reins of a roster full of promise. Wembanyama, 21, is one of the league’s brightest young stars and won 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year after leading the league in blocks and averaging 21.4 points per game.
This year, 2024 first-rounder Stephon Castle followed suit, winning 2025 Rookie of the Year after edging out Zaccharie Risacher, Jaylen Wells, and Zach Edey.
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Now, with the No. 2 pick, Johnson has another opportunity to build on the team’s momentum and lead the Spurs back to the postseason for the first time since 2019.
“When you jump into the top four again, you put yourself as an organization in a place to make a really big acquisition with a really good player. And that’s what we’re going to look forward to doing,” Johnson told ESPN.
What Johnson means by “big acquisition” remains to be seen. Some believe the Spurs could trade the pick for a proven veteran to accelerate their timeline.
Others think San Antonio will keep the pick and select a top-tier prospect. Players like Rutgers’ Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, or Baylor’s V.J. Edgecombe, are all considered potential fits with the team’s young core.
