What was happening in the world the last time the Spurs had the top pick

The San Antonio Spurs don’t often pick at the top of the NBA draft, but when they do, they tend to get it absolutely right.

In Thursday’s 2023 NBA draft, the Spurs will pick first and are expected to take French big man Victor Wembanyama. It’s just the third time San Antonio has had the top overall selection. Since 1997, the last time the Spurs had the No. 1 pick, the Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls, Washington Wizards, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, New Orleans Pelicans, Minnesota Timberwolves and Philadelphia 76ers have each had multiple top picks. The Cavaliers alone have had four in that time.

The Spurs’ two No. 1 picks came 10 years apart in 1987 and 1997. In those drafts, they took David Robinson and Tim Duncan, respectively. That’s two Naismith Hall of Famers and the players most associated with establishing a Spurs dynasty that won five NBA titles between 1999 and 2014.

But 1997, and the beginning of the “Big Fundamental” era, was quite some time ago. Here’s a look back at the last time the Spurs had the first pick:

Hello, Dolly

A sheep named Dolly was announced to the world in February 1997. Named after country music queen Dolly Parton, the sheep was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. According to the University of Edinburgh, the sheep’s birth “proved that specialized cells could be used to create an exact copy of the animal they came from. This knowledge changed what scientists thought was possible and opened up a lot of possibilities in biology and medicine, including the development of personalized stem cells known as iPS cells.”

Dolly lived at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, giving birth to six lambs. She died in 2003.

“Girls” power

Sporty, Scary, Ginger, Baby and Posh. If you know, you know.

The Spice Girls were one of the biggest musical acts of 1997 and released two albums, “Spice” and “Spiceworld,” that year. The second album launched the band’s first worldwide tour and a feature film. “Spice” became the highest-selling album ever by an all-women group. The two albums have sold more than 36 million copies, according to Billboard.

Where was Tom Brady?

The seemingly ageless quarterback announced his retirement in February 2023 after 23 years in the NFL. In 1997, Brady was decidedly not a big deal and likely had few thinking he would become the greatest QB in NFL history.

Brady was the third-team QB for the Michigan Wolverines. In 1997, Michigan went undefeated and won a share of the national championship — the school’s most recent title. Brady, for his part, completed 12 passes that season.

Stadium slammer

Some venues live in infamy, and few have the notoriety of Veterans Stadium, the former home of the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s an arena where fans booed Santa Claus and the field itself was dangerous.

It also had a jail.

In 1997, “the Vet” was especially rough. In a November game against the San Francisco 49ers, one in which the Eagles were losing, there were multiple fistfights and one fan fired a flare that landed in a group of fans. Two weeks after that 49ers game, the NFL and city brought in judges and installed a courtroom, called “Eagles Court,” along installing jail cells in the stadium.

Presided over by Judge Seamus Patrick McCaffery and others, the first court docket saw 20 fans charged with things mostly less serious than misdemeanors. According to The New York Times, 17 “either pleaded guilty or were found guilty and ordered to pay fines ranging from $150 to $300.”

Eagles Court went out of session in 2003.

The widest of legs

Fashion trends can be cyclical. Retro looks are never too far away, and things that could’ve been gone for good come back. JNCOs, the jeans with the cartoonishly wide legs, were at their peak the last time the Spurs had the No. 1 pick.

The jeans took off in the mid-1990s and, according to the Wall Street Journal, reached a peak in yearly sales in 1998.

Now, they might be coming back. According to GQ, the company relaunched and reissued its signature “Mammoth” jeans, with 40-inch leg openings, in 2017. But then Justin and Hailey Bieber were seen wearing them in 2023.

Then Paolo Banchero, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022 for the Orlando Magic, showed up on Slam, looking like the peak of the 1990s.