The San Antonio Spurs surprised no one with the first overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft on Thursday night, selecting French sensation Victor Wembanyama, the league’s most hyped prospect since LeBron James.
And unsurprisingly, the now-official move will continue to trigger a deluge of fan interest.
After the team generated more than 2,500 new season-ticket membership deposits immediately following last month’s NBA Lottery draw, Spurs officials told Front Office Sports that the number of new deposits is now in excess of 4,000 and still rising.
The new sales will undoubtedly push the Spurs above their 25th-place ranking in NBA team attendance — the club drew an average of 16,937 this past season. And even before entering the league, Wembanyama last season garnered 350 million views on NBA social media channels, ranking eighth among all players.
A frenzy in the secondary ticket market is also anticipated once the NBA schedule is released later this summer.
Salary Cap Rise
The NBA’s 2023-24 salary cap figure is now expected to be $136 million, according to multiple reports — up by $2 million from prior projections in September and from $123.655 million for the 2022-23 season. The luxury tax figure for next season is expected to be $165 million, up by $3 million from the initial projection.
Final figures won’t be determined until a financial audit is completed later this month, but both projections are near the maximum annual percentage increases allowed within the NBA’s labor deal with the NBA Players Association, reflecting the ongoing health of the league and its rising revenues.
