30 luckiest sports franchises

14. San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs only needed one stroke of luck to go in their favor for their franchise to have success for over 20 years, and it came after seven playoff appearances in eight years.

The result of that one bad season where they missed the playoffs in 1997? They’ve missed the playoffs just once since 1989, a dominant 28-year stretch, and that one bad season landed them one of the league’s all-time greats in Tim Duncan.

The team landed Duncan ironically based on one unfortunate stroke of misfortune, when David Robinson went down with an injury in the season before Duncan found himself entering the NBA Draft. Robinson’s absence from the lineup dropped the Spurs to a 20-62 record, and the team got the number one pick in the 1997 NBA Draft.

To even get Duncan, the Spurs had to get lucky in the NBA Draft Lottery, as it looked like the Boston Celtics would land Duncan with the best odds of any team. The Celtics dropped to third, the Spurs landed the top pick, and the rest is history.

Based on that one acquisition, the Spurs won a title just two years later, and won five NBA Finals with Duncan in their lineup for the next 19 years.

Duncan’s presence, alongside Tony Parker, Manu Ginobli and Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has kept the team in seemingly endless contention, and now none of us can even remember a time when the Spurs weren’t making an appearance in the postseason.