11:17pm: The deal is official, the Spurs announced in a press release.
8:04pm: The Spurs used the No. 8 pick in tonight’s draft on Kentucky guard Rob Dillingham, but he won’t begin his NBA career in San Antonio, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the Timberwolves are acquiring Dillingham’s rights from the Spurs.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), San Antonio is receiving Minnesota’s unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a 2030 pick swap in the deal. The ’30 swap will be top-one protected, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Neither of the Wolves’ 2024 picks (No. 27 and No. 37) are involved in the trade, confirms Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Minnesota’s ability to make roster moves this offseason will be extremely limited due to the fact that team salary will be above the second tax apron. That means the Wolves won’t be able to aggregate players in trades, take back more salary than they send out in trades, or sign outside free agents to contracts worth more than the minimum.
However, the second apron doesn’t prohibit them from acquiring a player’s draft rights, which don’t count as incoming salary for trade purposes as long as the player has not yet signed his rookie contract. That means they’ll be able to trade for Dillingham without sending out any players.
In his first and only college season with the Wildcats, Dillingham averaged 15.2 points, 3.9 assists, and 2.9 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game, posting an impressive shooting line of .475/.444/.796
Despite the Wolves’ ongoing ownership dispute, it appears management has been given the go-ahead to keep adding pieces. The addition of Dillingham, who projects to earn about $6.28MM as a rookie, will increase the club’s projected tax bill to approximately $100MM, according to cap expert Yossi Gozlan (Twitter link). Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link) estimates Minnesota’s projected tax bill at $84MM, but that number is fluid depending on how the club fills out its roster.
As for the Spurs, after adding Stephon Castle with the No. 4 pick, they clearly weren’t in love with any of the prospects available to them at No. 8, opting instead to continue adding to their stockpile of future draft picks by acquiring a pair of assets far down the road with little to no protection.
Clearing the $6.28MM cap hold for the No. 8 pick from their books will put the Spurs in position to create additional cap room this summer.
The Spurs, who have no players, and definitely need talent, decide to trade for a pick 7 years away, and a swap 6 years away. WTF? Dillingham would have fit them perfectly.
No players aside from Wemby, obviously.
Spurs have a really good roster, and arguably have to simplify their rotation the way okc did this year. They especially didnt need an undersized scoring guard that didn’t fit…
It made way more sense once the trade was announced
The Spurs have a terrible f***ing roster. They have 1 star and a bunch of other average players.
You are quite simply wrong. All you should take seriously is the last 20 games of last season. For the previous year and most of last year Pop coached towards draft picks not to showcase talent.
Their goal for next year is to challenge 500 and I promise you no one after the top 5 in this draft is going to impact any team. They likely got the best all around and ready now player in the draft, they have cap room and a bunch of draft picks to trade when they think it’s time.
They are playing chess while most teams are playing checkers. Those two draft picks will be lottery picks after Towns and Edwards are gone from Minnesota.
And I promise you that you’re wrong. Every year some player pops that nobody expected. There has never in the history of the draft been a class so bad that every single player after 5 was worthless.
Also, you’re absolutely nuts to expect it to be a lottery pick. Ant will only be 30 in 2031. Forecasting a player being gone is goofy.
They especially didnt need an undersized scoring guard that didn’t fit… – Formerlyz
Dillingham is taller than Tre Jones and Devonte Graham soooooooooooooo Spurs rather get limited production from the pg position?
Tre jones is a good 2 way player that is a good facilitator, doesn’t turn the ball over, and doesn’t need the ball in his hands
Devonte Graham shouldn’t be on the roster eother…
I don’t see how Dillingham at 6-3 176lbs is considered smaller than these other notable Spurs “undersized” draft picks since 2000 and as far as fit goes, he has more upside than any other point guard on their roster.
6-2 177lb Tony Parker
6-5 170lb DeJounte Murray
6-4 190lb Derrick White
I’m guessing here but I’d say that San Antonio must be in talks with another team about trading for a starting caliber point guard and those ’30 swap/31 1st could be used to sweeten any offer. I’m assuming that its likely either Trae Young or Dejounte Murray coming back in a deal.
Because they don’t know what that last piece is, but it wasn’t Dillingham, and they can use future 1st rounders to go get a proven player when they do.
You might want to check the Spurs record down the stretch last season. They already turned a corner. Close to .500 ball is within the realm of possibility this year.
I agree. Think he would’ve been an instant upgrade from Tre Jones. He could’ve played with Castle too. Add them to vassell, keldon, and wemby and that would’ve been an entertaining lineup.
If the Spurs become the contenders they’re building towards, and free agents come to play with Wemby, eventually they’ll run into a cap struggle trying to fill out a team. Right around 2030 or so….
There’s something to be said about being an over cap, championship contending team with draft capital. These guys come in on contracts as team friendly as it gets.
It’s very forward thinking. I like it.
Rogue gets it. Spurs aren’t going to be competing before 2030, and when they finally are, the draft picks in 2030 will come from a no longer competing Minnesota team, so they should be high picks. This is the only way to improve the team once over the cap with the draconian new tax system. Spurs are letting everyone know they aren’t going to be good for a few years, at least. This is also a weak draft, not really a good one to roster two lottery picks.
I would hope the Spurs will be competing before 2030, that’s 6 years. Wembanyama should be too good for them not compete by then. One more good draft prospect to go along with Wembanyama, Sochan and Vassell then let some of their current contracts expire to clear cap space or trade them as filler with picks to get a star. I’d say three or four seasons max.
Why is there this certainty Minnesota won’t be competing? The ebbs and flows of basketball aren’t so smooth. Ant will only be 30 in 2031. KAT and Rudy will be of the books. How do you know they don’t find another star to match with him?
Cause nobody wants to stay in the city they were drafted for roughly 10+ seasons. Realistic that Edwards is ready to be or will be elsewhere by 2030.
I think it’s refreshing, whether it ultimately works out or not. And I always love upside plays.
Really ……. OK Kawhi .
My grade
Wolves B+
Spurs C
In 2030, Edwards is in his prime
By that time Gobert will be done and Kat will be washed. It’s likely Ant won’t even be on the squad past 2029.
Why is it likely? You have absolutely no idea how the team will look in 6 years. The unexpected happens all the time in the NBA, so if you don’t expect it, good chance it happens.
In 2030 Edwards is a Laker…
Consensus is that Castle is better than Dillingham
You’re right, you don’t know how it’ll look in 6 years. Irving came off winning a championship in 2016 and has since changed teams 3 times. I suppose it just comes down to whether the wolves can keep a competing team around Ant. But they traded away their first round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and now 2031 not to mention the pick swaps in between. May be tough to bring in talent to Minnesota later down the road once this window starts to close.
wow
Somewhere a 13 yr old is excited to play with wemby
By then the league will be full of these growth hormone kids well over 7 ft, and Wemby will just be another tall player, nothing special. 10 years from now all players will be close to 7ft at every position. Kids taking growth hormones during puberty, genetically modified food, these players are being bred.
This makes way more sense. Minnesota could use his spacing/scoring off the bench around some of their young athletic wings (who hopefully will get bigger roles moving forward)
T wolves owners are all in now win mode because in 5 years they will be a terrible team.
As will every team contending this year. The league made rules preventing sustained success. Fake parity.
Are you a fortune teller ? Lol.
Those picks will just be traded because they should be competing by that time. A rookie won’t really help them much.
More and more these days championship contending teams are using rookies in expanded roles because of the new CBA.
In seven years if things go well for the Spurs an extra cost controlled first round pick could go a long ways.
Celtics didn’t play a single rookie…
Pacers had Walker on the bench
T’Wolves didn’t play any
don’t get it twisted that because Lively played that means rookies make impact for contending teams.
Wallace played for OKC
None for Clippers, Suns, Lakers, Pelicans,
Nuggets barely played any and known for a bad young bench. They paid Nnaji and he never plays.
Bucks didn’t play theirs much unless injury
Won’t the T-Wolves be playing Dillingham next year?
I doubt Dillingham is a rotation player in his 1st year.
Wolves hope he is ready to contribute in a year or two, to replace Connelly. Wolves have able backup with Alexander-Walker for now.
Keep in mind this is a very weak draft, Dillingham would project ~10 slots lower in an average year. San Antonio didn’t believe he could help them.
My response wasn’t just about contenders playing rookies it was also about cost controlled players having an impact. Braun was a rookie when the Nuggets won and he played a jet role off the bench. Jalen Williams was a sophomore. You named Lively and Wallace. Pritchard and Hauser wee still on their rookie deals. I could go on but that’s already a lot of kids on rookie contracts playing key roles for good teams.
You are stretching it a lot to fit a narrative now.
Someone better help by the end of their rookie contracts like Hauser or Pritchard. That basically goes for most players.
Rookies is the point I was making and rookie don’t really help on a lot of contending teams. Braun did aid in the Nuggets play they needed minutes from someone.
Wallace and Lively this year were the only actual rookies out of 16 teams.
But Lively did make an impact for a contending team? He was basically a day one starter for them. Yes they eventually traded for Gafford but that was more to reinforce the position and reduce how much they were relying on Lively (and I think Kleber was hurt at the time if my memory serves) rather than the Mavs thinking Lively wasn’t good enough.
Yes most rookies are not going to have significant roles on playoff teams, especially since most good teams are picking near the bottom of the first round where you’re choosing project players, specialists, or upperclassmen that are mainly being picked because they can instantly be plugged into the rotation for like 15-20 minutes a game. The couple of rookies every year who are clearly talented are usually toiling away on the worst teams
Jamie, Podz ?
A short guard that can get buckets. Ceiling is Lou Williams.
Ok get two picks . Future. I would have kept him. Great for Minny.
I agree. Minny improved with both picks. Shannon was the steal of the draft. They needed scoring off the bench and a young PG. they achieved both goals
I would have traded him for 2025 or 2026 picks, but not this far away. This might be a sign that the Spurs might be looking at throwing big money at big name free agents to put around Wemby sooner, instead of building a young core right now.
Free agents aren’t coming to play with Wemby. Free agents don’t join bottom dweller teams, and they certainly don’t join when they won’t get the perception of credit for winning. It’s the Wemby show. The spurs are also not a team that signs marquee free agents, they are a development team, always have been.
Can easily make a couple of trades to turn that around like the 07 Celtics then fill out the rest of the roster with free agents
Greg Popovic has a 30 year track record, as good as any at selecting and developing.
You can’t bring in too many young players at a time, as they need PT to develop. They drafted Stephen Castle with #4, and this draft is extremely weak.
Spurs young talent is developing nicely:
Wemby 2023
Devin Vassell 2021
Keldon Johnson 2019
Jeremy Sochan 2022
Castle 2024
No he doesn’t. He seems to be given HOFers that is about it. Name me 1 player he has developed(into a superstar) in the past 10 years.
It sort of sounds like you have your own narrative so what’s the point? But I’ll take a stab at it anyway:
Ginobili was drafted 57th and was extremely raw. He developed under Pop.
Parker went 28th and was developed into a HOF.
Kawhi was just a dude coming out of the draft. He did not have any of the offensive skills and abilities he has now. He was taken just outside the lottery because he was D only. Likely never would’ve been a superstar if he was taken by another team.
Tiago Splitter went late 1st and was developed into an extremely useful rotation player.
Danny Green was picked up either off waivers or in Europe, don’t remember which, and became such a valuable 3 PT shooter for a contender because of how the Spurs developed and utilized him.
Bruce Bowen was a nobody before the Spurs picked him up. Became one of the league’s best 3 and D players.
Traded up for Sean Elliott who became one of the most useful role players in NBA history.
DeJounte Murray went 29th overall. He was not this good in college–trust me, I’m a Husky fan.
I’ll stop there.
Makes sense for the Spurs and Wolves.
Wolves need to fill out their bench on the cheap, and get a heatwave type guard for help with that.
As for the Spurs, folks need to keep in mind they have Jones, Brahman, Wesley and Castle who are all ball handlers. It’s also time to start looking at add more experienced players to what is starting to look like a solid core of Wemby, Vassell, Sochan, and Castle. A pick and a pick swap in 2031 is value for the 8th pick in a weak draft.
Carter is a nice player. Solid pick
Wemby needs to get out of SA as soon as possible! Being part of a team that’s not trying to win will tarnish his career.
He’ll take their rookie extension offer…
Spurs know you don’t rush these things..
This makes no sense with teams like Boston and now OKC competing when they were young.
Ant-Man got the T’Wolves competing when he was like 3-4 years in.
Dillingham ain’t a winning choice, right?
Zero knowledge. Act like championship teams are built from one day to the next. The warriors, bucks, nuggets, and recently the Celtics all took years to finally win. Try to speed up a rebuild and you end up like the Knicks, nets, suns, etc.
Tall players like Wemby are usually kinda fragile so it’s important to put the right pieces around him so he can thrive. Being on a bad team too long can not only cause injury but it can stifle his growth as a player. We’re talking about a team that totally sucks right now. Nobody expects them to play for a championship yet but no one wants to watch them lose continuously either.
Einstein !!!! Knicks have never rebuilt. Till now under Rose and Thibs. The only thing speeding is your brain. Get facts before you post.
You’re probably a little young so it’s all good. I was referring back to 2010-2011 when they signed Stoudemire and traded for Melo. Gave up players and assets to buy a chip and once it didn’t work out they were stuck in mediocrity for over another decade. Granted they were trash at drafting so didn’t really have many options. But I do like the team they put together now
Spurs needed to keep the pick and draft someone else. They need more young talent next to Wemby. What were they thinking
A point guard was important but they really need rebounding help. A nice 4 would be a great addition and a solid backup center.
I’m sorry but the spurs won’t become contenders again unless they fire popavich. And get a real coach who can develop players instead of riding off of the coattails from 3 HOFers 20 years ago.
How in the world was this the best offer for the #8 pick in the draft ? They should have called Chicago who is obviously breaking it down.
They might have gotten Derozan in a sign&trade
You do not really believe Demar is >>> 2 future unprotected #1’s, do you? Yikes if so, in my opinion.
A bit further out than I would like and I don’t like making teams in our division better, but could wind up being a haul for the #8 in a weak draft. Hoping for the same scenario we are seeing with the Hawks picks allowing San Antonio to restock when Wemby is targeted to be take off.