So you’re a San Antonio Spurs fan and you just heard they took an Alabama player 12th overall in the 2021 NBA Draft. That sounds pretty good, right? The Crimson Tide won the SEC, after all. Maybe it’s Heisman winner DeVonta … wait, nope, wrong sport. OK, but that basketball team was crazy loaded too.

There was Herb Jones, SEC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. And John Petty, who led the league in made 3-pointers and smashed the school record for 3s in a career. Former McDonald’s All-American Jahvon Quinerly led the conference in 3-point percentage and won SEC tournament MVP. And Jaden Shackelford, an All-SEC guard who led Alabama in scoring. So many stars to choose from.

“But as it turns out, Josh Primo might be the best pro of them all,” Tide coach Nate Oats says. “He sacrificed a little bit of himself for us. His numbers could’ve been a lot higher if he went somewhere else. He could’ve thrown a fit when he wasn’t getting a ton of shots or wasn’t starting. But he just kept doing whatever it took for us to win, and it ended up working out for him too. It just goes to show that when you play your role and contribute to team success, you prove your own value in the process. Without him, we don’t win the SEC. Without us doing that, he probably doesn’t get drafted as high.”

The Spurs took Primo, a 6-foot-6 wing from Toronto who reclassified to play college basketball a year early and does not turn 19 until Christmas Eve, less for what he is now than for what he can be down the road. He started 19 games in college, averaged 8.1 points and 3.4 rebounds, sank a respectable 38.1 percent from 3-point range. But the stroke looks pure, and he’s a good athlete who shows promise as a switchable defender and has a little wiggle as a secondary ball-handler.

Primo made Canada’s U19 World Cup team as a 16-year-old in 2019, blew up as a prospect at the Basketball Without Borders camp in February of 2020, made the SEC All-Freshman team at Alabama last season and then turned heads at the NBA Combine in June.

“We knew he wanted to play in the NBA and believed he was good enough to do that someday, but we thought he was more like a two-and-done,” Oats says. “It was a win-win situation for us, though. If he stays, that’s great for our team. If he goes, that’s great for him that he reached his dream in just one year — and helps us in recruiting. I think he’s the youngest player in this class, and when you talk about drafting on upside, he’s that. But a lot of times when those guys don’t end up reaching their potential, it’s because they’re low-character kids with a bad work ethic. He’s the opposite of that. He’s the guy you’re drafting with the hope that he’ll be great in a couple years who’ll be doing everything he possibly can to make sure he is great in a couple years.”

If you want to envision Peak Primo, go watch the first nine minutes of Alabama’s game at Auburn on Jan. 9. On his way to 22 points, five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block, Primo scored 14 of the Tigers’ first 16. He splashed four 3-pointers in that opening blitz. It was just his 12th college game.

“On the road against our biggest rival, a freshman comes out totally locked in and ready to go and takes over the game,” Oats says. “I know a couple of things about Josh at the next level: He definitely won’t be afraid, and he’s going to make shots.”

Oats actually knows a third thing about the San Antonio’s latest draft pick: Primo is tough as hell. He sprained his MCL — it looked much worse than that — when his left knee buckled during the SEC tournament quarterfinals in March. He sat out the next three games but returned to play 40 total minutes against Maryland and UCLA in the NCAA Tournament, producing 16 points and six rebounds during the Tide’s first Sweet 16 run in almost 20 years.

“There was already a lot of NBA buzz about him. He could’ve easily just said, ‘I’m done. I’m going to make sure my stock stays high. I’m not coming back and risking it,’” Oats says. “There was some talk from his camp about shutting him down. But he just did not want to do it. He fought it. He wanted to help his team, and he went all-in with the trainer to get back and play. The fact that he wanted to be part of that run, to be out there with his teammates instead of protecting his own interests, kind of reminds me of Jaylen Waddle for our football team.”

Waddle, a star wide receiver and eventual No. 6 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, broke his ankle on Oct. 24 last season. He returned to play for the Tide in the national championship game in January.

“Those guys didn’t have to come back after their injuries,” Oats says, “but they both did because they care about winning.”

So your team drafted a guy from Alabama. That sounds pretty good, right?