{"id":501117,"date":"2026-02-26T16:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501117\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:06:09","slug":"spurs-wembanyama-remind-raptors-of-rewards-tanking-can-produce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/501117\/","title":{"rendered":"Spurs, Wembanyama remind Raptors of rewards tanking can produce"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Say this for the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>: when they decide to tank, they get it right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the interesting subplots to the heated league-wide debate about the practice of teams throwing whole seasons \u2014 sometimes several of them \u2014 in the name of securing a favourable draft position and having a better chance to choose a franchise-changing superstar.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like, say, Victor Wembanyama<\/a>, who the Spurs drafted first overall in 2023 after going 22-60. Or Tim Duncan, who the Spurs drafted No. 1 in 1997 after another 22-win season, or even back in 1987 when the Spurs bottomed out to 21 wins and drafted Hall of Famer David Robinson with the first pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a San Antonio tradition. But in this most recent iteration, the Spurs didn\u2019t stop there at just one year of draft shenanigans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After drafting Wembanyama, they stayed bad and were rewarded when 2025 rookie of the year Stephon Castle<\/a> was available with the fourth pick. Then, they were careful to stay in the lottery mix last season and were lucky enough to move up six spots to No. 2 overall for Dylan Harper<\/a>, who projects as the ideal long-term pick-and-roll partner for Wembanyama, the seven-foot-five French star already in the conversation for MVP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ironically, the Toronto Raptors<\/a> helped them with their strategy, trading a first-round pick for Jakob Poeltl as they were dismantling their team back in 2022-23 with an eye on drafting Wembanyama.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Raptors have never embraced tanking as fully as the Spurs have in recent years. The result is a relatively rapid rebound to playoff contention after a couple of losing seasons. However, their path to contention might be a bit murky. For San Antonio, their efforts have paid off. Their road to a possible title is pretty simple: follow Wemby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the Spurs, using the draft strategically has worked for nearly 30 years of unbroken success, and with Wembanyama, Castle and Harper on board, it should work for a decade or more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Less than a year removed from their most recent draft lottery, the Spurs have emerged as legitimate championship threats.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Raptors got a taste of what the Spurs have stumbled into on Wednesday night when San Antonio showed up, played very average basketball by their standards and still managed to pull out a 110-107 win that came down to a missed three-point attempt by Brandon Ingram at the horn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The win improved the Spurs to 41-16, the NBA\u2019s third-best record and left them just two games behind Oklahoma City in the race for top seed in the Western Conference.<\/p>\n

The Raptors fell for the third straight time at home and second in as many nights, but remain fifth in the East with a 34-25 mark.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They’ve been looking for signature wins all season and had one in their grasp even though they were playing on the second night of a back-to-back against a rested Spurs team that has now won 10 straight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Raptors led by as many as 15 late in the third quarter, but saw that lead whittled to one in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter during one of the few stretches this season that Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has sat Ingram (20 points on 9-of-22 shooting, with 11 rebounds) and Scottie Barnes<\/a> (15 points, four rebounds on 7-of-13 shooting) at the same time, a decision he said was attributable to Ingram needing rest (he had played all 12 minutes of the third quarter) and Barnes needing a breather as he dealt with the aftereffects of a bruised thigh suffered the night before against Oklahoma City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cScottie, he was really playing through the pain, so he was in constant communication with us. And he was saying, \u2018If you guys don’t have to play me, try to keep the momentum,\u2019\u201d said Rajakovic. \u201cSo we had that technical communication. And, you know, we had, at that point, a 12-point lead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the Spurs had Wembanyama, who \u2014 by his own admission \u2014 was not at his best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Raptors used a combination of Collin Murray-Boyles (until he had to leave in the third quarter after banging his troublesome left thumb trying for a steal on Wembanyama), Poeltl and Barnes to make life difficult for the Spurs star.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On paper, they succeeded, as he was limited to just 12 points on three-of-12 shooting in 30 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we did as well as you can do against Wembanyama,\u201d said Rajakovic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What did Wembanyama think? Mostly that he was tired after having been in Los Angeles for all-star weekend and then getting in late on Monday night after the Spurs’ big win over Detroit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I didn’t recover tonight, with all the time changes, coming from L.A., coming here late from Detroit,\u201d Wembanyama told me, when I asked whether it was the Raptors coverage that was the problem or him. \u201cI need to do a better job, getting treatment, getting sleep. I couldn’t sleep last night. I wasn’t in shape today …”<\/p>\n

Of the Spurs’ highly drafted young stars, Harper might have been the most impactful as he came off the bench for 15 points and seven assists on 11 shots. Devin Vassell led them in scoring with 21 points as he shot 5-of-6 from three.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for Wembanyama, he didn\u2019t let his tired legs affect his defence. He blocked five shots, altered many more and discouraged even more from being taken. In the game\u2019s first five minutes, the Raptors had three turnovers after altering course on drives when they realized Wembanyama was lurking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI do take pride in it,\u201d said Wembanyama, as the Spurs held the Raptors to 42.2 per cent shooting. \u201cAs a team, we take a lot of pride in guarding the ball like that. We take pleasure in it. It\u2019s the first thing we think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Offensively, his final line was well off his season averages of 24.2 points and 11 rebounds on 50 per cent shooting \u2014 and the Raptors definitely deserve some credit \u2014 but he was still a game-best plus-19 for his time on the floor, including plus-14 in 10 fourth-quarter minutes. Wembanyama\u2019s only three-pointer of the night was a big part of that as it put the Spurs up by six with 3:42 to play. The Raptors couldn\u2019t close the gap from there, even though the Spurs missed 4-of-6 free throws in the final 16 seconds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That was another issue for the Spurs star: \u201cWe did not win that game because we played better basketball,\u201d said Wembanyama. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of the recap of the night, how we shot those free throws at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the Raptors could take some satisfaction in pushing a very good team to the limit under difficult circumstances. It wasn\u2019t the bold-faced win over an elite team they have been looking for, but as their record against top 10 teams dropped to 4-15, they could take some solace in a signature loss, if there is such a thing. It was a much more impressive effort than the blowout loss the Spurs handed the Raptors in San Antonio back in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re a really good team, really well coached. They\u2019ve got great guard play, great wings along with Wemby,\u201d said Raptors’ Immanuel Quickley<\/a>, who had 20 points on 12 shots, but finished without an assist. \u201cSo they’re a tough team to play against. But I think they just made 17 threes (on 39 attempts). You make 17 threes with a seven-five\u00a0guy blocking shots, you got a good chance to win. So, you know, I guess we’ll see them again next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the problem with tanking the way the Spurs have: when done right, it pays dividends that last for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamu memories: Before Mitch Johnson became the first head coach of the San Antonio Spurs since 1996-97 not named Gregg Popovich, he was an assistant coach on a rebuilding Spurs team, working closely with Sandro Mamukelashvili<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Raptors’ free-agent find made such an impression on the Spurs that he got a video tribute when the Raptors played in San Antonio earlier this season, even though the Georgian big man was very much a fringe rotation player over his two-plus years there. <\/p>\n

So it was no surprise that Johnson is thrilled for the success Mamukelashvili has had since joining the Raptors as a free agent this past summer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI put my player development hat on (and) you always want everybody to make it, to make a billion dollars and score 100 points and be with the team for 20 years. And that\u2019s never the case.\u00a0And we’ve lost a lot of people that have been very important to our organization, and people that you build relationships with, and you should have feelings and emotions towards, and Sandro is one of those guys,” Johnson said.<\/p>\n

“Think when they leave your organization, and you see them have success, it makes you feel good. And I think that’s, you know, the thing about this league that people don’t realize at times is the relationships don’t change, the feelings and emotions don’t change. And so we want all those guys to be successful, just hopefully (he) misses a few shots tonight.”<\/p>\n

Battle time? Jamison Battle<\/a> has struggled to find consistent playing time this year, generally languishing fourth in a four-person battle for minutes on the wing featuring Ja\u2019Kobe Walter, Gradey Dick<\/a> and Ochai Agbaji. But Agbaji was traded at the deadline and it appears Walter has been slotting into the role of first wing off the bench. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday against Oklahoma City, Battle played ahead of Dick after the latter had a less-than-optimal first stint. On Wednesday against the Spurs, it was Battle who got the first stint, playing six first-half minutes while Dick didn\u2019t leave the bench. <\/p>\n

Neither did Battle after the first half, as he finished with two points on one field goal attempt. Meanwhile, Dick recorded his first DNP-CD (did not play-coach\u2019s decision) since Jan. 18, 2024, in his rookie season. <\/p>\n

Nothing is set in stone, but guaranteed minutes for Dick might not be in the cards for the third-year wing going forward either. \u201cObviously, what he experienced in the first two years in the NBA is pretty different than what he’s going through this season,\u201d said Rajakovic. “He’s in the process of learning how to be a professional, how to embrace that role, how to learn to play that role. And he had games where he did very well and he had games that, you know, did not do great. So he has to live with the process. I still believe in him, we still believe in him, and we look at this as a long-term process with him, not just something that’s game-to-game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Olympics for Kelly O? I caught up with long-time Canadian national team star and veteran Spurs big man Kelly Olynyk<\/a> after the game and he says he\u2019s planning to play in the 2028 Olympics.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old is in his 13th\u00a0NBA season but has no plans to hang up his sneakers. He\u2019s in the last year of a deal with the Spurs and was relieved when San Antonio didn\u2019t use his expiring contract in a trade package at the deadline.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s settled in nicely in Texas. His wife works in nearby Austin and they just had a daughter. But having waited so long for a taste of the Olympics that came in 2024 in Paris, he wants one more crack at a medal. He\u2019s been in touch with new national team head coach Gord Herbert and plans to play in the World Cup qualifying window this summer as Canada hosts Puerto Rico and Jamaica in Hamilton, Ont.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Say this for the San Antonio Spurs: when they decide to tank, they get it right.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":501118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-501117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}