San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama talks with Spurs general manager Brian Wright during practice at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday, June 10, 2026, ahead of Game 4 of the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
If Jayden Quaintance isn’t starting alongside Victor Wembanyama by 2028, it won’t cost Brian Wright his job. That’s a big reason why Quaintance is coming to San Antonio in the first place.
No matter what, Wright will be calling the shots in the Spurs’ front office for years to come, which enables him to take the kind of draft night swings many of his fellow general managers can’t.
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After all, it’s a lot easier to plan for the future when you know you’re going to be part of it.
This is one of the most underrated advantages the Spurs enjoy in the NBA, and it’s a wonder that more teams haven’t figured it out yet. In a league where franchises churn through decision makers like gym socks, patience isn’t just a virtue.
And even though there’s no guarantee that using a first-round draft pick on a high-flying kid with a balky knee will look smarter in two or three years than it did Tuesday night? As per their custom, the Spurs gave themselves a chance to come out way ahead in the long game.
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NBA DRAFT: Why the Spurs rolled the dice on a pair of big men in Tuesday’s draft
They should be good at it. They’ve been playing it for a while now.
Somehow, it’s been just shy of 30 years since the last time the Spurs fired either a general manager or a head coach. In professional sports, that’s as unthinkable as a world without gambling ads.
But think about what job security can mean for an executive who knows he’ll have to deal with the consequences of his actions, whether good or bad. Think about the way such a setup might bode better for the direction of an organization that isn’t always worried about winning the next press conference, or faring well in the next set of overnight NBA draft grades.
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Make no mistake about it: The Spurs could have scored a lot better among those graders had they taken a more conventional approach to Tuesday’s draft. Selecting Mexico’s Karim Lopez with the No. 20 pick would have elated the national draftniks and the Spurs’ marketing department, and taking Houston’s Chris Cenac Jr. at No. 26 would have been popular, too.
And now, the Spurs run the risk of having Quaintance-over-Lopez and Tarris Reed Jr.-over-Cenac forever second-guessed, the same way previous swings on Luka Samanic and Josh Primo were.
Jayden Quaintance #21 of the Kentucky Wildcats looks on prior to the first round of the 2026 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament against the LSU Tigers at Bridgestone Arena on March 11, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images)
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FILE – Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (3) battles for a rebound with Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintance, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Jan. 3, 2026, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt, File)
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UConn forward Tarris Reed Jr. cuts the net after the team’s win against Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
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UConn forward Tarris Reed Jr. (5) dunks during the second half against Duke in the Elite Eight of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
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Tarris Reed Jr. (5) of the UConn Huskies posts up against Steven Jamerson II (24) of the UCLA Bruins during the second half in the second round of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Sunday, March 22, 2026, in Philadelphia. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images/TNS)
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Sometimes the draftniks are right. Sometimes conventional wisdom is, too. But there’s a reason the Spurs employ a bunch of really smart people and really meticulous personnel evaluators in their front office, and it’s not because their formulas fall in line with the rankings on ESPN.com.
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If those really smart people and really meticulous personnel evaluators say that Quaintance’s overwhelming talent is worth the injury risk, why wouldn’t Wright trust them? If they say that Reed’s potential fit behind Wembanyama is too good for a team in need of size to pass up, why would Wright care if that pick gets him a C-minus on a national website the next morning?
Not every general manager works with that kind of freedom, or with that kind of peace of mind. Foresight can be a huge edge in team-building, and not just when it comes to the draft.
In 2022, Wright agreed to send Dejounte Murray to Atlanta, where a new general manager, Landry Fields, was just taking over. In exchange, the Hawks gave the Spurs the right to take three of their future first round picks. Next year, Wright will make the third of those selections. Fields, by the way, is long gone.
MORE SPURS: Why Spurs’ Brian Wright has full confidence in Mitch Johnson, De’Aaron Fox
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In 2023, Wright agreed to take Reggie Bullock’s off of Dallas general manager Nico Harrison’s hands to help facilitate a Mavericks’ trade for Grant Williams. All Wright asked in return was the chance to swap picks in 2030.
In 2024, Wright pulled off a similar feat in stepping in to help Sacramento in a deal with Chicago for DeMar DeRozan. Yes, Wright said, the Spurs would be happy to take the services of Harrison Barnes, a productive veteran at a position of need, essentially for free, but only if Sacramento general manager Monte McNair would agree to a pick swap in 2031.
Of course both Harrison and McNair gave in to those requests, and why wouldn’t they? They had no reason to believe they’d be around that long, and neither one of them were.
And in a way, Tuesday’s draft was just another example of Wright exploiting the Spurs’ continuity, much like Oklahoma City has done under general manager Sam Presti. San Antonio has nine rotation players coming back from a team that made the NBA Finals, and it doesn’t need Quaintance to produce right away. And nobody in the team’s brain trust needs to prove a point.
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Wright has been the general manager since 2019. CEO R.C. Buford, Wright’s predecessor, has been in the organization more than three decades. Assistant general manager Dave Telep, a trusted voice in the draft process, is in his 13th season. The Quaintance pick is not going to make or break any of them.
“We believe that he’s someone that will have a long career,” Wright said, “and we can help him get there.”
Thanks to the superpower so few in the NBA have.
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