5 Best San Antonio Spurs Draft Steals of All-Time

Perhaps no NBA team has been as good at finding gems late in the NBA Draft as the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs’ success was obviously built on players like David Robinson and Tim Duncan, two No. 1 picks. But the Spurs managed to build around those players by finding productive players late in the first round and even the second round, particularly during the Duncan years.

It helped that the Spurs were one of the first teams to mine the international waters for less-scouted prospects. That commitment to searching all corners of the world helped net them perhaps the greatest second-round pick in NBA history.

Here’s a look at the Spurs’ five best draft steals.

Honorable mention: Tiago Splitter

5 Derrick White

Draft: 1st round, 29th pick, 2017

Years with the Spurs: 4.5

Awards/Honors: 2x All-Defensive

White had an unlikely journey to the NBA, beginning his collegiate career at a DII school before transferring to Colorado his senior year.

White hardly played his rookie year, but began to make an impact in his second season, averaging 9.9 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists in 26 minutes per game. Thereafter, White became a core piece of a Spurs team in flux. Still, White impressed with his slashing, shooting, creativity with the ball, and hard-nosed defense. White only played 10 total playoff games with the Spurs, but he produced one gem in the 2019 playoffs, scoring 36 points on 15-of-21 shooting with five rebounds, five assists, and three steals to help the Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets.

Unfortunately, for the Spurs and White, he was growing on a Spurs team entering a rebuild. They traded him to the Boston Celtics in 2022.

4 George Hill

Draft: 1st round, 26th pick, 2008

Years with the Spurs: 3

Awards/Honors: none

Hill is still the only NBA player ever drafted out of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) — how Spurs-y!

Hill was an immediate contributor to the Spurs. He averaged 16.5 minutes per game, mostly off the bench, his rookie year, likely winning Gregg Popovich over with his length, defense, and steady demeanor. He made a leap his second year, averaging 12.4 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 40 percent from three in nearly 30 minutes per night, as he finished second in Most Improved Player voting.

Hill played in something of a down era for the Spurs, where they lost in the first round of the playoffs twice and didn’t make it past the second round. However, he played a big role in Spurs history: he was the centerpiece of the Draft-day trade that netted the Spurs Kawhi Leonard. Popovich later called it one of the hardest deals he ever made — that’s how much he loved Hill.

Without that trade, the Spurs might never get back to the mountaintop, but given how productive Hill was for the next decade, it’s easy to imagine him becoming a franchise staple.

3 Dejounte Murray

Draft: 1st round, 29th pick, 2016

Years with the Spurs: 6

Awards/Honors: 1x All-Star, 1x All-Defensive Team

Murray was something of a gamble for the Spurs — a raw player with loads of potential who would take a while to develop. Sure enough, the Spurs developed him.

Murray’s time in San Antonio was winding — his production and minutes were limited in his first two seasons, he missed his entire third season with a torn ACL, and then he made a leap. Murray raised his scoring average three years in a row, culminating in an All-Star season in 2021-22 in which he averaged 21 points, eight rebounds, nine assists, and a league-leading two steals per game as he made an All-Star team.

Murray improved so much while San Antonio entered a rebuild that it didn’t make any sense for the Spurs to keep him — they traded him to the Hawks for three first-round picks. Murray remains a perennial 20-points-per-game scorer.

2 Tony Parker

Draft: 1st round, 28th pick, 2001

Years with the Spurs: 17

Awards/Honors: 6x All-Star, 4x All-NBA, 4x NBA Champ, 1x Finals MVP, Hall of Fame

Parker was just 19 years old when he came over from France and fairly untested. Parker has spoken openly about how Popovich coached him extra hard ealry in his career, giving him a short leash and pouncing on him for the smallest mistakes.

It paid off. There is no Spurs dynasty without Parker. A waterbug with the ball, Parker’s main weapons were a silky floater in the lane and a trusty pull-up jumper in the midrange. Parker played off Duncan early in his career, but always rose to the occasion in big spots — he won Finals MVP in 2007.

In the 2010s, Parker was the engine of the Spurs offense and a headache for opposing defenses, knifing into the lane to find angles for baskets. He wasn’t a “pure” point guard, but he still racked up assists numbers running the pick-and-roll with Duncan and kicking it out to shooters.

1 Manu Ginobili

Draft: 2nd round, 57th overall pick, 1999

Years with the Spurs: 16

Awards/Honors: 2x All-Star, 2x All-NBA, 1x Sixth Man of the Year, 4x NBA champ, Hall of Fame

This ranking is not saying Ginobili was a better player than Parker, just more of a steal. As ESPN’s Zach Lowe once outlined, the Spurs took Ginobili in 1999 only because they couldn’t find a trade partner for the 57th pick and because they didn’t want a player who’d come over to the NBA immediately to keep their cap sheet low.

When Ginobili finally did come over, he was a revelation. Popovich has spoken about being equal parts amazed and frustrated by Ginobili’s wily, flashy, unique style on the basketball court. One of the key innovators of the “EuroStep” move, perhaps no one has ever moved like Ginobili on the floor: long strides and dramatic angle shifts that puzzled defenders. His slinky-like moves with the ball, combined with a knack for one-handed, behind-the-back, and no-look passes set him apart from the Spurs’ buttoned-up style.

Ginobili was a consistent play-making force off the bench for the better part of two decades. His best individual season came in 2007-08, when he averaged 19.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals, earning him an All-Star nod, All-NBA selection, and Sixth Man of the Year.

Ginobili probably wasn’t the best Spur in their dynasty, but he was the heartbeat in some ways, and remains one of the best second-round pick of all-time.

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