Joshua Primo’s NBA path has taken another sharp turn, and this one lands far from the league he entered as a lottery pick. The former Spurs guard has signed with Russian club BC Parma, a surprising update for a player whose career has already gone off the rails twice since San Antonio made him the 12th overall pick in 2021.
BC Parma announced the deal this week, saying: "BC BETCITY PARMA and 23-year-old Canadian guard Joshua Primo have signed a one-year deal." That move sends Primo overseas after a brief and uneven run in the NBA, including a stint with the Los Angeles Clippers that lasted only three regular season games.
Primo’s rise with the Spurs never really got off the ground. He spent about a season and a half in San Antonio before the team waived him following serious allegations.
He then sat out a year away from the NBA before the Clippers gave him another shot. That opportunity didn’t stick.
At 23, Primo is still young enough that the age alone doesn’t tell the full story. But the bigger picture is hard to ignore: a player once viewed as a high-upside piece for a rebuilding team is now trying to restart his career in Russia.
The Spurs were taking a swing when they drafted him in the lottery, even though many mock drafts didn’t have him going in the first round at all. The logic was clear enough on paper.
He was 18, had room to grow, and came in as an above-average shooter with plenty of physical and developmental upside. He barely saw the floor as a rookie, then added serious muscle ahead of what looked like a possible breakout second season.
Instead, the allegations changed everything. San Antonio cut ties, and Primo’s NBA momentum disappeared with it.
For the Spurs, the miss has barely mattered. The franchise kept building, landed the number-one overall pick in 2023, and took Victor Wembanyama. They followed that with Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, turning the page while Primo faded from the picture.
What’s left is a cautionary tale. A lottery pick once tied to the Spurs’ future is now headed to a new country, with his NBA career looking more and more like it has already reached its end.
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