The San Antonio Spurs are equipped with two lottery picks to compensate for a roller-coaster season. Things went south after Victor Wembanyama's unfortunate blood clotting issue, but the Spurs have their All-Star point guard of the future in De'Aaron Fox, back-to-back Rookie of the Year winners to build around and multiple bites at the apple in an elite upcoming NBA Draft.
Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley ran a lottery simulation on Tuesday ahead of the real deal in a couple weeks. The Spurs weren't able to land Cooper Flagg at No. 1, but that didn't stop GM Brian Wright from unearthing meaningful value with the 14th overall pick in this realm of hypothetical.
B/R has the Spurs selecting South Carolina forward Collin Murray-Boyles at No. 14, which puts Wembanyama next to a burly, dynamic playmaking four for the next decade-plus, ideally.
"There is Draymond Green 2.0 potential here, but that's on the extremely optimistic end of Murray-Boyles' best-case scenarios," writes Buckley.
That sounds great, obviously, and it comes after landing another impact piece in Michigan State's Jase Richardson with the No. 8 pick. If this is how the board falls for San Antonio on draft night, fans should be elated.
Murray-Boyles does have traces of Draymond Green to his game, but I'd argue his ceiling expands in numerous directions.
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Spurs land 'Draymond Green 2.0' in NBA mock draft with Collin Murray-Boyles pick
It's difficult to overstate the level of victory this pick would qualify as. Murray-Boyles ranks No. 4 on the FanSided big board. Am I well above consensus? Absolutely, but it's difficult to poke holes in the case for Murray-Boyles as the most obvious sleeping giant of the 2025 draft.
He's a sophomore floating in a pool of highly touted freshmen, but Murray-Boyles could've been a lottery pick last season, too. He's also 19, so the age factor does not work against him. More than that, Murray-Boyles exhibited meaningful growth across the board in his second campaign with the Gamecocks. South Carolina was a bad team in a stupidly loaded SEC, but that shouldn't take away from what Murray-Boyles accomplished individually.
The statistical profile is robust. That is where the Green comp hits a slight snag for me, only because Murray-Boyles projects as a much more dynamic individual weapon. He still doesn't shoot much at all, but he made 9-of-34 on the season from 3-point range — compared to 0-of-5 as a freshman. Baby steps are important, and Murray-Boyles' touch around the basket suggests there is somewhat dependable perimeter shot-making in his future.
Inside the arc, Murray-Boyles ranked among the most dominant forces in college basketball. He led the SEC in field goal percentage (58.4 percent) at 6-foot-7, dominating the interior with balletic footwork and a rollicking, bowling ball-esque frame, which allows him to evade or embrace contact in equal measure. The touch around the rim is real, and Murray-Boyles has tight handles to beat defenders from the elbow and create his own looks in face-up situations. He is also one heck of a playmaker, which is where the Draymond comp picks back up.
Side-spinning CMB pass pic.twitter.com/YwGZBrqVNW
— Matt Powers (@DraftPow) April 26, 2025
Murray-Boyles is quietly, but confidently, the best defender in the draft as well. He has sticky hands in passing lanes, a robust presence on the glass and genuine weak--side rim protection chops. Again, the holes in his profile is really a hole, singular. If he shoots, it's game over, and every team looks utterly silly for letting him slide to San Antonio with the 14th pick.
Green was a much better scorer in college than he has been in the NBA, but Murray-Boyles' scoring figures to translate more sufficiently to the next level — even if he's not much of a long-range threat. We should never ascribe the expectations of Draymond's generational defense to a 19-year-old of unproven mettle, but if Murray-Boyles can channel even 80 percent of Draymond's five-position shutdown status, with a few more buckets and self-created drives sprinkled in on offense, the Spurs will be throwing a parade through the Alamo before long.