The San Antonio Spurs took their swing in the 2026 NBA Draft, and it came with a familiar risk: two big men in the 20s, both carrying enough question marks to make the whole thing feel uncomfortably familiar.
That’s the part that makes this feel like a rerun of 2022, when San Antonio used three first-round picks and walked away with a mess. Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley were eventually moved to the Wizards with a second-round pick attached just to get off them, and Jeremy Sochan, taken ninth that year, was dumped during his fourth season.
The Spurs hoped Sochan’s playmaking would develop. It didn’t.
By the end, all three first-round selections had missed.
This time, the names are different, but the concerns rhyme.
Jayden Quaintance and Tarris Reed Jr. both entered the draft with real doubts hanging over them, just like Branham and Wesley did three years ago. Back then, the debate centered on shooting, efficiency and strength. In 2026, the red flags are different, but they still point to the same danger: players who may not hold up long enough, or develop enough, to become real pieces next to Victor Wembanyama.
Quaintance brings the bigger immediate concern. He played only four games last season because of an ACL injury, and there are questions about whether he’ll suit up at all as a rookie.
The 6’10 big man is more of a five in how he plays, but he’s built more like a four. That’s not an ideal combination when the injury history is already shaky.
His offensive game is thin, and the lack of vertical pop adds another layer of concern. He likes to shoot, but he struggles to knock down jumpers. That kind of profile starts to sound awfully close to the same kind of skepticism that followed Blake Wesley in 2022, when evaluators worried about his mid-range-heavy game and lack of athleticism.
Quaintance does have defensive upside, and he’s only 19. But so was Branham when he entered the league.
The challenge is simple and brutal: development only matters if a player can stay on the floor. The Spurs took the risk anyway, and they did it with the same pick - 20th overall - that once produced a result San Antonio would rather not revisit.
Reed’s path is different, but the pressure is just as real. Unlike Quaintance, his issue is less about availability and more about whether his game has enough swing skills to survive.
He needs to get better defensively to carve out a place in the NBA. At 6’11 with strength, he has size on his side, but he doesn’t have the athleticism teams usually chase.
He could wind up closer to Goga Bitadze than Alperen Sengun. That’s the kind of range that matters.
If Reed struggles on defense, the whole thing can unravel fast. Confidence matters too, because once a player starts slipping below expectations, it becomes easier to fall out of favor.
And in San Antonio, the margin is thin. Reed won’t be starting with Wembanyama already on the roster, and the Spurs clearly treated this as a position of need. That only raises the stakes for a 23-year-old rookie who has to produce quickly or risk getting pushed aside.
The bigger lesson from 2022 is that the 20s are a tricky place to draft. Seven of the ten players selected from 20 to 29 that year are basically out of the NBA after four seasons.
Walker Kessler just got a massive contract from the Lakers. Christian Braun and Nikola Jovic have become role players.
Peyton Watson, taken 30th, is hoping to land a massive contract in restricted free agency.
There are hits in that range, but there are no guarantees. Tyrese Maxey and Jalen Johnson show that stars can come from that part of the board. Still, the more common outcome is a player who tops out as a fringe piece, or worse, is gone by the end of the rookie deal.
That’s the reality the Spurs are staring at now. They went after a clear area of need and took two bites at the apple, just like they did in 2022.
The last time, it produced almost nothing. Whether this version ends the same way is still unknown, but the warning signs are impossible to miss.
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Popovichs Brutal Rookie Lesson Still Says Everything About Spurs Culture
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What stands out is that the message didnt feel like a one-off from a fading voice on the sideline. Popovich stepped down as head coach after the 2024-25 season because of health reasons, with Mitch Johnson taking over, but he stayed with the organization as president of basketball operations and remained around the team during its 2026 NBA Finals run. For Bryant, the lesson was bigger than one jab step or one conversation, and it fit the same Spurs standard that has long valued honesty, accountability and star-level work habits. [Read more 🡒]
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For San Antonio, the intrigue starts with how it can tilt the game in the margins, especially when the rotations get deeper and the matchup shifts to the second units. The other big question is how the Spurs handle the Thunders defensive anchor and whether their approach against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can keep the game from turning into a night of constant help and recovery. [Read more 🡒]