Then, I dove into w dna tuohere these picks are actually coming from. It's not just their own picks, you know? They've got some from other teams because of trades they made before. I had to figure that out and write those down first. I foundnd out they have one from the Atlanta Hawks that doesn't have any protection, meaning the Spurs get it no matter what. That’s pretty sweet. There's another one from the Chicago Bulls, but that one's a bit trickier – it's only good if the Bulls don't end up with a super high pick. Same kind of deal with a pick from the Charlotte Hornets, but with different rules.
To understand all these conditions, I needed to look up what "protected" and "unprotected" picks actually mean. It's all about where the team's pick lands in the draft order. Unprotected means the Spurs get the pick no matter what, which is great. Protected means there are conditions, like the pick has to be outside the top 10 or top 14 for the Spurs to get it. I made a simple list to keep track of all this. I also learned that if a protected pick doesn't go to the Spurs because of those rules, it can change into a second-round pick later. Not as good, but hey, it's something.
Here is what I wrote down:
- Spurs' own pick
- Hawks' pick (no protection)
- Bulls' pick (top-10 protected)
- Hornets' pick (top-14 protected)
I also saw something about the Spurs maybe swapping picks with the Hawks in 2026, but I'm not 100% sure how that works yet. I need to look into that more, but I put it aside for now because I just want to understand the confirmed picks first.
And man, the Dejounte Murray trade to the Hawks? That was a big one. The Spurs got a bunch of picks out of that deal. I had to go through a bunch of websites to piece together all the details and understand all the trade parts. I spent a good hour just on that trade alone, trying to figure out which picks came from where and when the Spurs might actually get to use them. It's not simple because there are always some rules about these things. Also, there was something about the Bulls' pick potentially being the most valuable, which got me excited. But then again, it depends on how the Bulls do next season. So, lots of "ifs" and "buts."
After all that, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on the situation. At least for now. But honestly, it's a lot to keep track of. Things can change, you know? Trades happen, teams do better or worse than expected, and all that can affect these draft picks. I'll need to keep an eye on it, but for now, I'm just glad I took the time to figure it all out. It's like a puzzle, and I kinda like puzzles.
