What the Spurs do now

With Victor Wembanyama en route, San Antonio's biggest need is at point guard. Is patience or boldness on the menu?

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

---

Portraits at the Stock Exchange; Edgar Degas; 1879

The biggest addition any NBA team will make this offseason is named Victor Wembanyama. No free agent or reasonably tradable superstar comes close to the upside impact of Big Vic in San Antonio. That we definitively know where Wembanyama is headed cuts a lot of the drama, which cuts a lot of the discourse. But let’s zag in that direction. Knowing they’ll have Wembanyama on their roster for at least four seasons, and probably at least seven, what else should the Spurs do this summer?

Before the lottery, I explained that if Wembanyama is truly worth the hype that’s built up around him — and I have seen nothing that indicates otherwise — then based on other generational prospects he *could* be in the MVP conversation by Year 3. LeBron James and Kevin Durant both finished No. 2 in MVP voting in Year 3 in the NBA; Luka Doncic finished No. 4 in Year 2. An MVP-caliber player plus another All-NBA level player or a couple of All-Stars can get you into title contention if things break right.

So my argument is that the Spurs should take the shortest path possible to adding an All-NBA level player or a couple of All-Stars within the next couple of seasons to be ready to take advantage of Wembanyama’s potential as soon as it blossoms. Here’s what I wrote the morning before the NBA draft lottery about a prospective Spurs win:

For many of these teams, the path to contention once you win Big Vic is pretty straightforward. … The Spurs hunt madly for a starter-caliber point guard (no offense to Tre Jones) and prioritize keeping Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell; everyone else should be up for grabs for veterans who fit the mold.

A starting point guard is the biggest priority here, full stop. In his Spurs prospective for The Athletic in May, John Hollinger agreed.

Either way, the most prominent short-term decision (after they’ve finished puzzling over whom to pick at 1) is to shore up the backcourt to give Wembanyama a partner who can consistently get him the ball. (One of the wonders of watching Wembanyama in France this season was watching him play with a shoot-first point guard all season, and all the resultant money that was left on the table on lobs or pick-and-pops.)

San Antonio has a restricted free agent in Tre Jones, who manned the position last season and has the mindset of a distributor, but he’s more of a caretaker at this spot. It would shock nobody to see the Spurs pursue a longer-term solution as a pick-and-roll partner. At the very least, earmarking some of that cap room to adding more ball distributors would seem to be money well spent.

One major problem: the free agency point guard supply is extremely thin. You have Kyrie Irving, Fred VanVleet and D’Angelo Russell. Irving? Absolutely not. Russell doesn’t seem like the right type of point guard for a Wembanyama-centric team — you’d like a more creative passer vs. a mid-range shooter.

VanVleet is an interesting option, especially considering he unsurprisingly declined his player option with Toronto to seek a big long-term contract. The Spurs could easily open up the cap space to sign him to his individual maximum contract outright without moving a core player. FVV is an improving playmaker with a career high 28% assist rate and very good 10% turnover rate last season. He’s a solid defender and good shooter, too — he just brings a lot to the table and doesn’t take much off. He’s an one-time All-Star, and he’s 29 with a reasonable amount of mileage having played four years of college ball but then playing tons of minutes for five years under Nick Nurse. You wonder if the upside is not quite enough, and if he’s 2-3 years on the older side than you’d want for a long-term partner for Big Vic.

The Spurs don’t have to focus on free agency, though.