ESPN’s Zach Lowe reports on NBA draft prospects the Spurs may be interested in

Just a day after the NBA Draft lottery social media is ablaze with speculation about what the San Antonio Spurs will do with the fourth and eighth selections in the draft. Expect rumors of who the Spurs are interested in to come out consistently for the next month and a half. The first major rumor to consider comes from ESPN’s Zach Lowe, who was in the room on Draft Lottery night.

In a recent piece for ESPN, Lowe reported that rival executives expect the Spurs to be interested in Nikola Topic and Zaccharie Risacher, stating they would be nice fits next to Victor Wembanyama. Lowe also says in the report that trading both picks seems rash, although that didn’t seem to be backed by any inside intelligence. Already rumors of Trae Young’s departure from Atlanta are making the rounds online, and the Spurs are considered to be a suitor.

Topic in particular is an interesting name given the Spurs’ needs at point guard. Unfortunately, the Serbian prospect just re-aggravated a left knee injury on Monday. This is the same injury that kept Topic out of the lineup from January to April of this year.

The pre-draft process has just begun for NBA teams, as prospects are testing their measurables, athleticism and shooting ability at the NBA Combine on Monday. It’s unlikely that the Spurs have zeroed in on any specific prospect just yet. They still need to bring players in for individual workouts and interviews. Injuries, like the one Topic suffered, will also play a factor in the final draft board.

It’s important to take a lot of these early rumors with a grain of salt and pay close attention to what’s actually being said. Lowe doesn’t say that the Spurs are interested in these players, but that rival executives like the fit. There will be a lot of speculation from scouts and anonymous sources coming out from now until Draft Night on June 26th. A lot of it will either be misinformed nonsense, or smoke screens purposefully leaked by teams to impact a player’s draft stock. This happens every year.

The Spurs are usually pretty tight-lipped when it comes to rumors. Last draft nobody had Sidy Cissoko on their radar for San Antonio in the second round. There was almost no evidence that Cissoko ever worked out or interviewed with the team. Some people speculated the Spurs would be aggressive in the offseason after landing Wembanyama, that didn’t happen, either. More often than not, these rumors will be wrong.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t fun! With no Spurs basketball to watch, reading the tea leaves and crafting conspiracy theories on what they might do is about as entertaining as it gets for Spurs fans these days. Just use caution when digging into all of the rumors out there over the next month.