The San Antonio Spurs may have lost 60 games this season, but they were huge winners Tuesday night in Chicago when they prevailed in the Victor Wembanyama sweepstakes.

The Spurs were one of three teams with a 14 percent chance of landing the top pick in the NBA draft lottery and now will surely use the pick on Wembanyama, the 19-year-old French sensation, in the June 22 draft.

San Antonio has landed big-time stars with the No. 1 overall choice in the past, selecting David Robinson first in 1987 and Tim Duncan 10 years later.

“It’s a really special moment that I will remember for the rest of my life,” Wembanyama said from Paris on ESPN. “… I’m trying to win a ring ASAP.”

The 7-foot-4 Wembanyama is considered the best NBA prospect since LeBron James went No. 1 overall in 2003.

“I might faint, I’m so excited,” Spurs managing partner Peter J. Holt said on ESPN’s broadcast. “The city of San Antonio, our fans, we just have so many people that love the Spurs. We’re pumped.”

The Charlotte Hornets will select second, followed by the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets. Houston also had a 14 percent chance of winning the lottery.

The Detroit Pistons, the third team with a 14 percent chance of landing the first pick, will choose fifth.

Scoot Henderson of G League Ignite and Alabama’s Brandon Miller are the leading candidates to be the No. 2 and 3 picks.

Wembanyama played his final regular-season game in France on Tuesday and scored 22 points as Boulogne-Levallois recorded a 93-85 win over Paris Basketball. He scored 14 of his points in the fourth quarter for the Metropolitans 92.

“He’s 19 and his life is going to totally change,” Metropolitans 92 coach Vincent Collet told reporters afterward.

Wembanyama will have to adjust to living in a foreign country as well as playing against the best men in the world. Though if he lands with the Spurs, he will be coached by legendary Hall of Famer Gregg Popovich.

“I can’t wait to meet the fans and the team I’m about to join in June,” Wembanyama said.

Only time will tell whether the Spurs hit the No. 1 overall pick jackpot again.

Robinson and Duncan are both members of the NBA’s 75th anniversary all-time team and have been inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. They both were the key figures of numerous championship teams, with Duncan earning five title rings and Robinson winning two.

Spurs general manager Brian Wright, who was in the drawing room in Chicago, immediately felt the impact of winning the lottery.

“I’m excited for the city, for the franchise,” Wright told reporters. “Tonight was a great start. It’s the beginning, not the end. There is still a lot of work to do.”

San Antonio has missed the playoffs in four straight campaigns and the 22-60 record this season was the third-worst in franchise history.

The Orlando Magic own the sixth and 11th picks, the latter coming from the Chicago Bulls as part of the package for acquiring Nikola Vucevic in 2021.

The Indiana Pacers will pick seventh, followed by the Washington Wizards, Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks. Dallas landing the 10th pick was crucial for the franchise: If the pick had been 11th or lower, it would have gone to the New York Knicks as part of the 2019 deal for Kristaps Porzingis.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will select 12th, followed by the Toronto Raptors and New Orleans Pelicans.

–Field Level Media

Heat star Jimmy Butler is known for speaking his mind, and he didn’t disappoint Tuesday, one day before eighth-seeded Miami visits the second-seeded Boston Celtics for the opener of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday.

Butler insisted this Miami team will not be deterred on its way to the NBA title.

“This year is our year,” Butler said. “We’re going to go into this Game 1 and do what we’re supposed to do and be the first one to four (victories). We are very capable of it.”

This is the third time in the past four seasons that the Celtics and Heat have met in the East finals. And it will be a different Boston coach on the sideline for the third occasion.

Miami eliminated Brad Stevens’ Boston team in six games in 2020 before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. Last season, the Ime Udoka-coached Celtics ousted the Heat in seven games before falling to the Golden State Warriors in the championship round.

Udoka was fired prior to the season due to a workplace affair and was replaced by Joe Mazzulla, a first-time head coach who gets to match wits against Miami’s well-respected Erik Spoelstra.

“It’s definitely going to be a challenge for Joe, but I think he’s going to handle it well,” Boston star Jaylen Brown said. “He’s handled it well all season. He’s been scrutinized, but he’s done a good job. He is a rookie coach, but he’s taken a championship-caliber team and now we’re back in the Eastern Conference finals.

“He deserves some credit for that. But he’s going against one of the greatest coaches of all time, and I think there’s a level of respect there and understanding that Spoelstra is going to make adjustments.”

Brown averaged 24.1 points in last season’s matchup with the Heat, just behind star Jayson Tatum’s 25 per game.

Tatum is coming off a performance for the ages. He poured in a Game 7-record 51 points as the Celtics pounded the Philadelphia 76ers 112-88 to reach the Eastern finals.

“It’s a big movie,” Boston guard Marcus Smart said of Tatum’s show. “Being able to just sit back, eat your popcorn and watch. Sometimes we do get in that mode where we forget that we’re on the court playing with him.”

Tatum has quickly put that epic effort behind him and is focused on competing against the Heat.

“A team that we’re extremely familiar with,” Tatum said about the matchup. “A very well-coached team, they compete with the best of them, play hard. They defend, they make plays and they figure out a way to win games. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be highly competitive and I’m looking forward to it.”

The intensity level is always high when Butler is on the floor. He averaged 25.6 points against Boston in last season’s series.

He also produced a milestone effort in this season’s playoffs with 56 points in a first-round victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. The 56 points tied for fourth most in an NBA playoff game.

Butler was plagued by an ankle injury in the conference semifinal series win over the New York Knicks. The ankle is feeling better, and so is Butler’s outlook about Miami’s supporting cast.

“Guys are playing some incredible basketball,” Butler said. “I like our chances, as does everyone in this organization.”

Heat center Bam Adebayo hasn’t forgotten the critics that pounced when the team lost to the Atlanta Hawks in its first play-in game before beating the Chicago Bulls to move into the playoffs.

“It’s a crazy story being written,” Adebayo said. “Through all the ups and downs of this season, a lot of people counting us out and saying we weren’t even going to make it past the first round and now we’re in the Eastern Conference finals. It just shows the determination and the will that this team has.”

Boston and Miami split four regular-season meetings. Each club split the two games on its home floor.

–Field Level Media

Ja Morant, suspended by the Memphis Grizzlies following the emergence of a second online video showing him brandishing a gun, took responsibility in a statement Tuesday night.

His first public comments came after NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on ESPN that he was shocked by Morant’s latest actions and that the league was conducting an investigation.

In an Instagram Live video that appeared last weekend on the account of Morant’s friend Davonte Pack, Morant was seen flashing a handgun as a song by rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again plays. The Grizzlies announced on Sunday that he was suspended indefinitely from all team activities.

Morant said in his statement, “I know I’ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me. This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I’m committed to continuing to work on myself.”

Two months earlier, Morant served an eight-game suspension issued by the NBA after he was seen on social media flashing a handgun at a Denver nightclub. Following an investigation, the league announced that Morant was “holding a firearm in an intoxicated state,” with Silver adding that “Ja’s conduct was irresponsible, reckless and potentially very dangerous.”

Morant subsequently underwent counseling at a Florida facility.

Upon his return to the team, Morant said of his intentions moving forward, “Just being more responsible, more smarter. That’s pretty much it for me. Obviously, I made mistakes in the past, caused a lot of negative attention not only for me, but my family and my team and the organization, and I’m completely sorry for that. So my job now is, like I said, to be more responsible and more smarter and don’t cause any of that no more.”

Silver, in his Tuesday interview with ESPN, referenced his meeting with Morant after the March incident.

“We talked directly about the consequences first,” Silver said on ESPN. “Before we got to a subsequent potential to have done something wrong, we were very focused on the misconduct that was in front of us at the time. Frankly, most of our conversation was about how incredibly serious the first incident was of waving a firearm on social media.

“Again, the consequences there — an eight-game suspension — was pretty serious and something that he, at least to me, seemed to take incredibly seriously in that time. And we spoke for a long time about not just the consequences that could have on his career, but the safety issues around it — (Morant) could’ve injured, maimed, killed himself, someone else with an act like that — and also the acknowledgment that he’s a star.

“He has an incredibly huge following, and (we discussed) my concern — and I thought he shared with me — that millions, if not tens of millions, of kids globally would have seen him do something that was celebrating in a way that act of using a firearm in that fashion. So I at least was left with the sense that he was taking this incredibly serious.”

Morant, 23, averaged 26.2 points, 5.9 rebounds and 8.1 assists in 61 games (59 starts) in the 2022-23 season. Memphis was eliminated in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Morant has a franchise-record, five-year $193 million contract extension that will begin with the 2023-24 season. Because he did not make an All-NBA team this year, he did not qualify for a supermax contract worth $231 million.

–Field Level Media

The Denver Nuggets tried to run the Lakers out of the arena early behind another big game from Nikola Jokic, but the experienced Los Angeles team didn’t flinch — and nearly stole Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

The Nuggets built an 18-point halftime lead in front of their home crowd and were up by 21 in the third quarter but had to hold off a furious Los Angeles rally to pull out a 132-126 win on Tuesday night.

Jokic had 34 points, 21 rebounds and 14 assists for his third straight triple-double, and teammate Jamal Murray scored 31 points despite battling an ear infection.

“The whole playoffs he is playing amazing,” Jokic said jokingly of Murray. “Maybe he faked it, he doesn’t want to practice just to get a couple of days off.”

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope contributed 21 points, Bruce Brown had 16, Michael Porter Jr. added 15 points and 10 rebounds and Aaron Gordon finished with 12 points for the Nuggets.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night in Denver.

Anthony Davis had 40 points and 10 rebounds, LeBron James finished with 26 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, Austin Reaves scored 23 points and Rui Hachimura put up 17 points for the Lakers, whose second-half rally came up short.

“We’ll go back and look at the film, see what we need to clean up,” Los Angeles coach Darvin Ham said. “Take a good look at that second half, see what went well, try to sustain the good stuff and alleviate and repair the bad stuff.”

The Lakers lost Game 1 for the first time this postseason.

“It’s the playoffs, we need to be aggressive, we need to win the game, especially in front of the home crowd,” Jokic said. “They won two Game 1s.”

Los Angeles chipped away at the large deficit, getting within three points three times in the final four minutes. Denver responded by scoring the next points each time.

The Lakers opened the fourth on an 8-2 run to pull within 108-100 with 10:10 left.

Porter and Jeff Green hit corner 3-pointers and Murray scored on consecutive possessions to make it 118-104.

Los Angeles got within 124-118 with 3:53 left, and a Nuggets turnover led to a Reaves 3-pointer that made it a three-point game. Denver got the margin back to six, but another Reaves 3-pointer made it 127-124 with 2:18 left.

James had a chance to tie with 45 seconds left but missed a 3-point attempt, and Jokic closed it out at the line.

“I think we did a good job of just making shots and weathering the storm,” Murray said. “But that’s why it’s a series. Both teams will make adjustments.”

Denver used a 36-13 edge in rebounding to take a 72-54 lead into halftime. Jokic had 12 rebounds in the first quarter and finished with 16 for the half to go along with 19 points and seven assists.

“It took us a half to get into the game, and that was pretty much the ballgame,” James said.

Murray hit a pair of 3-pointers at the start of the third, giving the Nuggets a 78-58 lead. Jokic notched his triple-double when he fed Caldwell-Pope for a floating jumper midway through the third quarter. It is his 12th postseason triple-double, the most by a center in NBA history.

Jokic put the Nuggets ahead 93-72 with a 3-pointer and fed Caldwell-Pope for another before Los Angeles closed the third strong. The Lakers went on a 16-7 run, but Jokic drained a 28-footer at the quarter buzzer to make it a 14-point game entering the fourth.

–Field Level Media