Victor Wembanyama, Gregg Popovich will be NBA’s newest dynamic duo

The NBA’soldest coach. The NBA’s newest superstar.

In aninstant, the fortunes of the San Antonio Spurs changed in a bigway.VictorWembanyamais on his way to the NBA, and the coaching winsleader in Gregg Popovich will be waiting for him.

The rightcombination of ping-pong balls — 14, 5, 8 and 2 were the winningones — gave the Spurs victory in the draft lottery Tuesday night,meaning they’ll have the No. 1 pick June 22. That means they’ve wonthe Wembanyama sweepstakes, and that four years of losing in a waythat had never before happened under Popovich has actually paidoff.

Pop andWemby. A 74-year-old wine connoisseur who is one of the bestbasketball coaches in the world, and a19-year-oldsupertalentwho hails from the land where some of the bestwines are made.

The NBA has anew dynamic duo.

“When youtalk about generational talents, it’s often times beyond just yourability to make a shot or your ability to jump or your ability toput the ball on the floor,” Spurs general manager Brian Wrightsaid. “It’s all of the little details that go into being great,becoming great. And as we’ve studied Victor, he is very in-depthwith everything that he does, whether it’s on the court, whetherit’s training, or things that he’s into off the court.”

Ifthe7-foot-3Wembanyamabrings his current warm-up routine to the NBA,it’ll be like none other. He’s barefoot on the court for probably agood 15 or 20 minutes, stretching and doing various other things toget his feet ready. There’s also some very specific ballhandlingand passing things that he likes to do. It’s not just a few shots,few dunks, few 3-pointers and go play. There’s a plan and a reasonfor everything.

Popovich willlove that. He knows Wembanyama has been taught the right way; thekid spent last year playing for Spurs icon Tony Parker’s franchisein France, and is spending this season getting coached by VincentCollet. That’s someone Popovich coached against with the U.S. atthe 2019 World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics. Popovich raves aboutCollet, not hiding his respect level for him at all.

They’ll talkbefore long about Wembanyama. That’s certain. Pop will immersehimself into knowing everything that makes the kid tick, just so heknows how he’ll react to every situation he’ll face with the Spursnext season and beyond.

“His abilityto connect and spend time and bounce between the really detaileddevelopment of basketball players and the bigger picture ofdeveloping people is just so impressive,” Spurs managing partnerPeter J. Holt said. “I think no matter what Pop does, he’s going tofind a way to do that because that’s in his heart. And I’m excitedto see whatever the next phase is in that journey.”

This is anembarrassment of lottery riches for the Spurs. Let’s be clear:They’re not giving this back. But winning the lottery in 1987 andlanding David Robinson was big, then winning the lottery again in1997 and landing Tim Duncan was bigger, and now comesWembanyama.

It’s big. Howbig, well, that story will get told in the coming years.

“Now itbecomes real,” former NBA player Ian Mahinmi — one of more than 40international players that Popovich has had during his tenure inSan Antonio — said during the telecast of Wembanyama’s Frenchleague game Tuesday. “Now everything becomes real.”

Popovichtalked before the Spurs’ last game of the season about how, duringhis career, he has been the “beneficiary of serendipity to a maxdegree.”

He’s notwrong. And more good fortune has come to San Antonio. The Spurshaven’t won a playoff series since 2017 and went a combined 121-186over the last four seasons.Theybasically lost more gamesin the last four years than theydid in the previous eight years combined.

The losingends now, if Wembanyama has anything to say about it. He’s comingto the NBA with eyes on becoming a superstar, an icon, a champion.And he’s about to become the star of the latest — and perhaps final— phase of Popovich’s career.

“Today was agood day,” Wembanyama tweeted after the lottery.

Popovichdoesn’t tweet, but he and everyone else in San Antonio surely feltthe same way. After 60 losses this season, they got the win theywanted most.