With the Spurs seemingly on their way back to contention after missing the postseason four years in a row, San Antonians are responding accordingly.
The Spurs have sold 4,000 new season ticket deposits for the 2023-24 season since San Antonio won the draft lottery on May 16, according to a Tuesday morning report from Axios San Antonio's Madalyn Mendoza.
Mendoza, citing Spurs senior corporate communications coordinator Lucy Kaneb, wrote that San Antonio "saw a 3,000% increase in year-over-year online traffic and sales" in the two days following Victor Wembanyama's selection in the NBA draft.
Wembanyama, widely considered the best draft prospect of his generation, is expected to elevate a team that went 22–60 in 2023—the franchise’s worst record since 1997. The Spurs followed that season by winning the lottery as well, drafting Hall of Fame forward Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest.
As Duncan's presence elevated San Antonio's municipal profile in North America and beyond, Wembanyama's is expected to do the same. Per Mendoza, the city's tourism agency "saw a 26% increase in audience growth on its social media channels since the Spurs won the NBA lottery."
The moral of the story: winning won’t necessarily cure everything, but seven feet and five inches may.
