The San Antonio Spurs have missed the playoffs for two consecutive seasons.
This is something that is seemingly not a big deal, however, missing the playoffs is something that just did not happen for the Spurs in the past couple of decades.
With Greg Popovich being 72 years old and by far the oldest coach in the league, the time could be now to begin a major rebuild.
It is arguable that Popovich was the thing keeping the Spurs playoff streak alive after Tim Duncan retired.
However, it seems highly unlikely that he will remain the head coach for much longer.
He has already been mentoring his assistant coach Becky Hammon for years.
In fact, she stepped up and filled in as the head coach of the Spurs after Popovich was ejected in a regular season game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
With that, she became the first woman to ever coach a regular season NBA game.
Spurs assistant Becky Hammon filled in for an ejected Gregg Popovich.
She's believed to be the first woman to act as head coach during an NBA regular-season game. pic.twitter.com/VyQqVNaPhc
— ESPN (@espn) December 31, 2020
It is likely that Hammon will take over the head coaching job once Popovich retires.
Also, with her being the first female head coach in league history, skeptics and critics will come out of the woodwork to try to bring her down.
Because of this, Popovich should do the right thing and begin a rebuild in his final years in the league and leave Hammon with a young and talented roster to give her the best chance of success.
Best Way To Rebuild
The Spurs in recent history have never been a team that earns a very high lottery pick.
This is something that has left them in no man’s land.
They have remained too good of a team to get a generational prospect in the lottery and they have been too bad to make any real noise in the playoffs.
The best way to rebuild the team would be to trade older players for draft picks or young prospects.
Some players they could look to move this season if they find the right deal would be Thaddeus Young, Al-Farouq Aminu, Doug McDermott, and Bryn Forbes.
All of these players will be too old to contribute or out of the league by the time the Spurs rebuild would come to an end.
The Spurs have already made efforts to bring some youth onto the roster.
11 of their currently rostered 20 players are 24 years old or younger.
This is an incredible start to a rebuild, however, they are missing a star player.
While there is a lot of young talent on the Spurs, there is not a player on the roster who looks like they can carry a team to success in the future.
With the Spurs looking to be one of the worst teams in the league this season, that could change in the near future.
The 2022 draft class is shaping up to be loaded with talent.
The future of the Spurs rebuild could wind up falling into the hands of the lottery.
If they are lucky enough to land a top pick and acquire a player like Chet Holmgren, it could only be a one or two-year rebuild until the Spurs are ready to be contenders again.
Amazing fluidity from potential 2022 No. 1 pick Chet Holmgren on the defensive end followed by an equally impressive transition push, behind-the-back bounce pass + finally a two-handed dunk to cap the sequence in front of @DraftExpress at the 2021 @FIBA U19 #WorldCup in #Latvia pic.twitter.com/w0NrrP364m
— DraftExpressContent (@DXContent) July 10, 2021
It would be incredible to see what Popovich would be able to scheme up with a talent like Holmgren on his roster.
However, outside of the draft, some of the upcoming unrestricted free agents the Spurs should keep their eyes on are Mitchell Robinson, Zach LaVine, and Aaron Gordon.
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