A Spurs-Nets NBA Draft trade makes sense. Could it actually work for both sides?

The Dallas Mavericks’ stunning rise to the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft lottery overshadowed the fact that the San Antonio Spurs also moved up to No. 2 in unlikely fashion. The Spurs already have the best building block in the sport in 21-year-old Victor Wembanyama. A blood clot in Wembanyama’s shoulder ended his fantastic second season after the All-Star Game, but it feels like the Spurs are ready to take the another step next season after acquiring De’Aaron Fox at the trade deadline. San Antonio was already rumored to be a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo suitor even before the lottery, and moving up to No. 2 can only help those discussions.

Of course, Giannis isn’t on the open market yet. The latest on the Bucks superstar is that he’s still contemplating his future, but if he does decide he needs to leave Milwaukee, the Spurs suddenly have one of the strongest offers now that the second pick can potentially head to the Bucks. There’s also an argument for the Spurs keeping the pick, taking Dylan Harper, and letting everything shake out with patience rather than trying to accelerate the timeline into “win now” mode with a Giannis trade.

There can be a third option, too: the Spurs can trade down, pick up a useful veteran, stay in the top-10 of the draft, and add future assets to continue building around Wembanyama as he nears his prime. The Brooklyn Nets feel like the ideal trade partner for something like that.

Brooklyn enters the draft with four first-round picks: No. 8, No. 19, No. 26, and No. 27. The Nets reportedly want to add another lottery pick this year, and they badly need a talent like Harper to build around. Brooklyn just so happens to have a perfect veteran for the Spurs in Cam Johnson, with the eighth pick and some future draft capital forming the basis of a potential trade offer.

The Spurs took a lot of threes this season, finishing No. 8 in three-point rate by taking more than 44 percent of their field goals from three. There’s two problems: a) San Antonio only finished No. 20 in three-point percentage at 35.7 percent as a team, and b) Wembanyama was by far their highest volume shooter by taking 8.8 threes per game. Wembanyama is a capable shooter who likes to drift outside the arc, but he does his best work inside where he can use his insane 8-foot wingspan to score at the basket. San Antonio needs to continue adding shooters to nudge Wemby a little closer to the paint, and Johnson feels like an ideal fit.

Either Keldon Johnson or Harrison Barnes works as a one-for-one trade with Brooklyn for Johnson, and then the Nets can add draft capital on top of it starting with No. 8 in a trade down for No. 2.

Johnson is one of the best shooting forwards in the game, coming off a season where he made 39 percent of his threes on seven attempts per game, and finished with fantastic scoring efficiency at 63.2 percent true shooting. He was massively impactful on offense by ranking in the 96th percentile of offensive EPM, and he’s fully in his prime at 29 years old. A trade for Johnson would give the Spurs a high-volume shooter on the wing, open up the paint a bit of Wembanyama, and allow the Spurs to add another premium rookie this year all while pushing the team closer to a playoff spot.

Kon Knueppel would be an amazing fit on the Spurs if he’s still there at No. 8 in this scenario, though it’s starting to feel likely he’ll be gone by that point. Collin Murray-Boyles and Noa Essengue could be two other great options that would give the Spurs some elite defense and bully-ball scoring (CMB) or another French physical freak with the long-term tools to feast off Wembanyama’s offensive gravity (Essengue). I’d imagine Tre Johnson would be another name mentioned as a possibility in this scenario.

If the Nets really like Harper, the Spurs can press them for plenty of future draft compensation after the haul of Knicks picks Brooklyn got for Mikal Bridges last season. Getting the No. 8 pick plus two or three future unprotected Knicks picks (let’s say 2027, 2029, and 2031) with Johnson seems like an appealing deal to me.

A Spurs-Jazz trade swapping No. 2 for No. 5 with Lauri Markkanen headed back to San Antonio could also work. Markkanen makes a lot more money than Johnson which could be a deterrent for San Antonio, but Utah also has enough future first-round picks to add to make the Spurs think about it.

The problem with Dylan Harper on the Spurs

Harper has cemented himself as the clear No. 2 overall pick in this class. He’s a fantastic prospect, and could be an awesome long-term running mate for Wembanyama. There’s certainly merit to the idea of taking the best player and figuring out the fit along the way, but there are real fit concerns at the moment.

Harper spent most of his year at Rutgers in a heavy on-ball role, and that won’t be the case in San Antonio with Fox and reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle around. All three of those guards are shaky shooters, with Harper making only 33.3 percent of his triples as a freshman at Rutgers. Harper was better on spot-ups, making 37 percent of his catch-and-shoot opportunities, but opposing defenses will likely sag off all three of Harper, Fox, and Castle in an attempt to crowd the paint on Wemby.

Castle only hit 28.5 percent of 333 three-point attempts as a rookie. He’s shown poor touch at the three-point line and free throw line both as an NBA rookie and in his one year of college at UConn, and while he can certainly get better in the future, right now he’s a bad shooter. Fox isn’t a good shooter either after making only 31 percent of his threes last season between the Spurs and Kings, including a terrible 27.4 percent mark from deep in 17 games in San Antonio. Fox has had solid shooting seasons from deep before, but ultimately he’s a career 33 percent three-point shooter in the NBA.

Would the Spurs consider trading De’Aaron Fox?

The other thing the Spurs could do? Trade Fox before re-signing him to a potential four-year, $228.6 million extension, and then just take Harper. It would be ruthless to trade Fox considering he essentially pushed himself to San Antonio to play with Wemby, but the Spurs’ future changed by moving up to No. 2. Fox is a very good player, obviously, but he risks being a bad contract if he signs for the full amount of that potential extension. The fact that Harper will be a cost-controlled four-year rookie contract to start his career while Wembanyama’s costly extension begins after his second season is a major selling point for taking Harper and trying to trade Fox.

Would the Nets be interested in trading Fox for Johnson if the 2-8 swap falls through? I’d like this trade for San Antonio with Johnson and Nic Claxton coming back. Who says no to this one?

Leaving the Nets behind for a minute, Trey Murphy III is another player San Antonio could look to target in a Fox trade. Like Johnson, Murphy is an elite shooter with height, and he doesn’t turn 25 years old until this summer. New Orleans feels like a huge wildcard with Joe Dumars now calling the shots, and not in a good way. I assume the Spurs could get both Murphy and Herb Jones in this deal, but even something like this might be solid if they’re drafting Harper at No. 2.

The Spurs have so many good options at No. 2 in the draft

Early reports say San Antonio wants to keep the No. 2 pick and take Harper. Taking Harper at No. 2 is a good option, whether San Antonio is figuring out the rest later or immediately looking for a Fox trade. Trading No. 2 and Castle in a package for Giannis Antetokounmpo is a good option. Trading No. 2 to the Nets for No. 8, Cam Johnson, and two or three future first-round picks strikes me as a good option, too.

Part of what makes the Thunder so scary is their endless optionality with so many future draft picks to continue building around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams. The Thunder have a truck load of future first-round picks that they can use to either trade for another premium talent or keep replenishing their depth. In the second apron era, being able to add cost-controlled rookie contracts is a fantastic fallback option if the star of your dreams doesn’t appear on the trade market. A trade down is one way put the Spurs in a similar position.

By the way, the Spurs already have the No. 14 pick in the 2025 draft via the Hawks from their brilliant Dejounte Murray trade. This is an incredibly important moment in time for the Spurs’ Wembanyama era, with two more years on his rookie contract, Fox entering next year on an expiring contract, and a huge stroke of luck to bring them the second pick.

Ultimately, I would say the best option for the Spurs is taking Harper, trading Fox, and looking for a forward with shooting ability in return. It’s so hard to pull the trigger on that type of move when Fox wanted to be in San Antonio, but great teams have to make tough decisions.

With so many good options, it’s hard to settle on the best one for the Spurs. It might look like there’s no wrong answers right now, but history indicates there will be a huge microscope on their decisions this summer as a turning point in Wembanyama’s young career.

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