Could the Spurs winning the NBA Draft lottery eventually impact the Nuggets’ title window?

Sports is about the moment, and maximizing it.

But there isn’t a functional front office in pro sports that doesn’t have an eye on what looms on the horizon. And to that end, it was more than just the teams in the NBA draft lottery who watched Tuesday night’s results with a focused eye.

Even those still playing took a peek at the most impactful pregame show in sports.

That’s because the prize, 7-foot-3 Victor Wembanyama, is considered by many to be the best prospect since LeBron James 20 years ago. The 19-year-old with the 80-inch wingspan can shoot from deep, is agile, lithe and can handle the ball like a player 9 or 10 inches shorter.

And now he’s in the Western Conference.

What’s more, Wembanyama with a club that, despite its struggles in the last two years, has a deep-rooted culture of success — and the NBA’s all-time winningest coach still prowling its sideline.

In some ways, the San Antonio Spurs winning the lottery was one of the worst-case scenarios for most of the West.

Yes, Wembanyama could have landed in other spots that would have caused worry. For example, if Oklahoma City had pulled off the lottery shocker and gotten the pick, he would have joined a team that already has a young, top-5 vote-getter in MVP voting, 24-year-old guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Had Utah earned the No. 1 pick, it might have been problematic given its young core and its stable of first-round picks — at least six in the next three drafts alone.

But in going to San Antonio, Wembanyama heads to a stable franchise that turned two lottery wins — 1987 and 1997 — into 30-year run that saw 29 playoff appearances, 24 50-win seasons and five championships. They were among the clubs ahead of the curve on being a truly global team. The architect of most of that success, Gregg Popovich, remains as head coach. Even if and when the 74-year-old coach rides into the sunset, his philosophy and vision is likely to continue guiding the Spurs.

They also had an amazing knack. At the right moment, they sucked. And then they got luck.

Their first 60-loss season got them Tim Duncan. Their second drew Wembanyama.

The Spurs know what they’re doing. Time has proven that. And now they have their foundational piece. Again.

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SO, WHAT ABOUT THE NUGGETS?

In Game 1 on Tuesday, the Nuggets wiggled free from the Lakers’ steadily-tightening fourth quarter squeeze. The breathing room they established in building a 21-point allowed them to escape with a 6-point, 132-126 win and a 1-0 Western Conference Finals advantage.

It’s good to have a cushion, whether it’s in points on the scoreboard to withstand a lead — or time with which to accomplish a goal. The former mattered Tuesday. In the latter, it’s about their championship window.

But what is the window? Is it several years — and is it only now beginning, with the Nuggets’ key pieces finally once again healthy deep into the postseason, and a team that appears more complete than the one that got the Nuggets within one series of the NBA Finals in 2020, thanks to Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope?

Or are we somewhere in the middle of the Nuggets’ imperial phase, with the start coming in that bubble run?

The answers remain unknown.

But if the window did truly begin at Walt Disney World in 2020, then the Nuggets are four postseasons into it. Jamal Murray’s torn ACL effectively blew apart two years.

And while this is unlikely to be the last spring in which the Nuggets possess a realistic shot, a glance over the horizon could reveal Wembanyama leading the Spurs’ charge.

“I’m trying to win a ring ASAP,” he told ESPN’s Brian Windhorst from his lottery watch party early Wednesday morning in Paris.

That said, let’s slow the roll for a moment. His rookie season to come will no doubt provide some humbling, teachable moments. And there is always the variable of injury, especially with players of his height or taller. The cautionary tales of two other highly-touted, top-pick big men come to mind: Ralph Sampson and Yao Ming. Chronic injuries brought premature ends to their careers.

But if Wembanyama stays healthy and lives up to the lofty, generational prognostications, the Western Conference landscape will change — and so too will the title paths of contender.

Thus, it adds another layer to the urgency of the moment for the Nuggets.

Yes, they should have more opportunities to bring the Larry O’Brien Trophy to Denver.

But with OKC still nascent, Dallas squandering its talent, the Warriors aging, the Suns injured and a chemistry mess, the Timberwolves underachieving and the Bucks home for the summer after a first-round debacle, the NBA’s planets may be aligned perfectly for the Nuggets today.

The window won’t close this spring. But this may be its widest opening. And the lottery result served as another small reminder.