Why The San Antonio Spurs Do The Deal
For the Spurs, there’s a simple question here. Is Toppin likely to be better than whoever they’re likely to pick with the Hawks’ 2025 selection?
The answer is yes. The Hawks are firmly in win-now mode. Even in a nuclear event where they’re forced to trade Trae Young, they owe their immediate draft capital to the Spurs. They’ll look for a win-now package in return for the star guard.
Meanwhile, Toppin has real breakout potential. For his entire NBA career to date, he’s been stuck behind Julius Randle. Plenty of observers feel there’s a more statistically productive player in Toppin than what we’ve seen so far.
The Spurs should try to unlock him. Sure, he’s got some overlap with Jeremy Sochan. That’s fine.
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The Spurs have room in their rotation to give both an opportunity, and in time, they could trade one or the other. After all, it’s never too early to start thinking about trades.
