The Spurs seemed to grab the NBA’s brass ring on Tuesday, winning the draft lottery and the rights to draft presumptive No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama out of Metropolitans 92 in Levallois-Perret, France.
Expectations toward Wembanyama figure to be through the roof, with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski calling him the "greatest prospect in the history of team sports." However, Hall of Fame forward and TNT pundit Charles Barkley took a different view Friday afternoon.
“This notion that just because you have all this hype and you’ve been kicking a– in France all these years,” Barkley said on NBA Today on Sirius XM's NBA Radio. "That don't mean nothing when you step on the court next year."
Barkley was responding to Wembanyama declaring after the draft lottery that he “couldn’t) wait to win a title.”
“The Spurs ain’t close to winning a championship, young fella!” Barkley exclaimed. ”Y’all probably ain’t gonna make the playoffs next year.”
San Antonio is coming off a 22-60 season—its worst season by winning percentage since 1997. That year, the Spurs won the lottery and the rights to draft center Tim Duncan No. 1 out of Wake Forest.
Despite the general goodwill in the basketball world toward legendary San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich's abilities, Barkley stressed that the Spurs remain far away from contention in the foreseeable future.
"They're probably gonna be the third-best team in Texas!" Barkley added. "Just in Texas!"
