The offers will come. That much we know for certain.

NBA executives can be jackals, and a pack of them are headed this way. The Spurs might not be dead, but they are wounded, and opportunists already are contemplating the idea of picking through the bones.

This is how it will happen: Toward the end of June, right around the time of the draft, R.C. Buford’s phone will light up with calls and texts from general managers looking to buy low on Kawhi Leonard. A few of them reportedly have told ESPN already about their plans to inquire about Leonard’s availability.

Maybe one of them will present a deal that makes sense. But in all likelihood, the best trade for the Spurs will be the one they do not make.

Just like last summer.

It probably sounds outrageous to say this at the end of a regular season in which so much has gone wrong for a franchise that had been the model of NBA excellence for two decades, but the Spurs got lucky this year.

Their season — and their outlook — could have been much, much worse.

Think back to last August, when Kyrie Irving made headlines with his demand to be traded from Cleveland. At the time, the Spurs were still unsure whether LaMarcus Aldridge was committed to being part of their future, and we learned later that he had requested a trade, too.

The idea of adding a young star point guard like Irving to a team with Leonard on the wing was a tantalizing one, for all of the obvious reasons. With a duo like that, the Spurs could have run and scored with anyone, and there was reason to believe neither player had yet hit his peak.

Here is where it gets interesting: According to one ESPN report last August, Irving was willing to commit to a long-term contract extension with the Spurs if the Cavaliers traded him to San Antonio. Meanwhile, the only win-now deal that would have made any sense for Cleveland was one involving Aldridge, but the veteran power forward alone would not have been enough for the Spurs to land Irving.

They would have had to throw in Dejounte Murray, who would be blocked in San Antonio by Irving and could be the point guard of the future in Cleveland, and probably a first-round draft pick.

It remains unclear if the Cavaliers ever would have taken the Spurs up on such an offer, because they got one they liked better from the Celtics and shipped Irving off to Boston for a package including Isaiah Thomas and multiple picks.

But let’s take a look at what would have happened to the Spurs if they had pulled off the Aldridge-Irving swap:

Leonard still would have sat out the bulk of the season with his quadriceps issue. Irving might have kept the Spurs afloat for a while, but he still would be stuck with the same bum left knee that limited him for much of the past few months and will keep him sidelined through the playoffs. And the Spurs never would have benefited from the Aldridge resurgence that somehow kept them in playoff contention.

So, in summary, the Spurs would have two stars with injury issues - both possibly long-term - instead of one. They probably would have fallen to 10th or 11th place in the Western Conference. They would not have one of their most promising next-era building blocks in Murray. And as for their consolation prize for falling into the lottery?

They traded their first-round pick to Cleveland for Irving, remember?

That, Spurs fans, would have been a disaster deserving of a full-scale panic. By comparison, the team’s current predicament of being stuck just short of championship contention but still boasting multiple assets does not seem so terrible.

There are obvious holes in Murray’s game, but none that cannot be patched over. He is not, for instance, a drastically worse shooter than Tony Parker was as a second-year player. Murray does things few other point guards in the league can do, and he is a huge part of the franchise’s future.

Aldridge is a force again, and although he never will be the centerpiece of a team that beats Golden State, it looks like he still has multiple All-Star-level years to give.

And regardless of whether they end up in the playoffs, the Spurs should end up with what could be their highest draft pick of this millennium.

Then there is Leonard, who remains the biggest mystery in all of this, but he retains undeniable value. If the Spurs offer him the “supermax” extension this summer, that will be as good of a sign as any that they believe in him. For fans, that would be a great thing.

But the jackals are coming. They will bring all sorts of offers, and perhaps the Spurs will be tempted.

Or maybe they will remember the trade they didn’t make last summer.

And hope their luck hasn’t run out.