With their first selection in the 2019 NBA draft, the San Antonio Spurs selected Luka Samanic, a lanky European prospect from Croatia. Samanic is viewed as a project player. The expectations for his potential impact in his rookie season should be relatively minimal. But even with that in mind, what kind of impacts can we expect Samanic to have in his first season with San Antonio?
Over the past few years, a pattern has emerged for developing Spurs rookies. More often than not they will spend their rookie years shuffling back and forth between San Antonio and the Spurs G-League affiliate in Austin.