Through five games of the 2023-24 NBA season, it is clear to see that the San Antonio Spurs are not the same rebuilding team they've been in recent years. Gregg Popovich still has himself a young team that is growing, but the one difference this season is that Victor Wembanyama now leads this young core highlighted by growing talents such as Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and Jeremy Sochan.
Erasing a 20-point deficit to pick up a massive road win against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night, the Spurs were back in action against the Suns in the desert on Thursday night. This time, it was San Antonio who put their foot on the gas early, going up as many as 27 points against Phoenix.
While the Suns tried to pull off some magic and give the Spurs a taste of their own medicine from the other night, San Antonio held on late to win 132-121, moving to 3-2 on the season with two wins over the championship-contending Suns. Wembanyama was fantastic in this game, scoring a career-high 38 points on 15-of-26 shooting, as well as grabbing 10 rebounds.
This Spurs team has shown a ton of resilience early on in the new season and to do so twice late in the game against the Suns speaks volumes on this team's potential. Popovich recognized this in his postgame remarks, claiming that Thursday's night game was a positive lesson learned.
“For about three minutes there offensively, we lost our composure, which allowed them to run and do whatever,” Popovich said in his postgame remarks. “But we hung in there, got our solid play back the last three, four minutes. So, for a young team that needs to learn that in the fourth quarter, that was the best part of the game against a very good club.”
Victor Wembanyama's presence
Perhaps Victor Wembanyama was the “solid play” Gregg Popovich alluded to after the game. What the Spurs' rookie did in just his fifth NBA game ever was colossal. Not many players in the league can go out there and score 30-plus points in a game, yet Wemby did so with ease as a rookie. Better yet, he was the calming presence in the fourth quarter after checking back into the game with 6:21 left on the clock.
From that point on, Wembanyama scored 10 total points on 3-of-3 shooting, accounting for 10 of the team's final 16 points of the game. The final quarter of play and overtime has been Wemby's time to shine, as he has quickly established himself as one of the most clutch players in the league.
Following Thursday night's victory, Victor is now averaging 8.6 points and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 16-for-22 (72.7%) from the floor in the fourth quarter and overtime. His 43 total points in the fourth and overtime combined are the third-most in the league right now, trailing just LeBron James (58) and Stephen Curry (46), per ESPN Stats and Info.
The Spurs' early season success can't just be credited to Wembanyama though, especially since Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell, and others have played their roles to perfection. Everyone on San Antonio's roster has embraced Wembanyama being the face of the franchise and the team has set up a balanced scoring attack around the rookie.
Spurs' outlook and Devin Vassell's injury
After struggling to find their identity on offense a season ago, the Spurs are now averaging 115.0 points per game (11th in the NBA) and they rank 14th in offensive rating. It's also worth mentioning that six other players behind Wemby are averaging at least 9.8 points per game, Vassell coming in right behind him at 19.4 points per game on the wing.
Unfortunately for the Spurs, Vassell left Thursday night's game early with a groin injury. After the game, Popovich noted that the young swingman is expected to be out a while and will undergo further testing when the team gets back to San Antonio.
This is going to definitely be a challenge for this young Spurs team since Vassell has been one of their driving forces offensively outside of Wembanyama.
As much as the Spurs learned about facing adversity and holding onto a lead late in the fourth quarter, they also learned a lot about their rookie center. Most importantly, it has become apparent that his shot production and usage rate must increase. Good things happen when Wemby has the ball in his hands and that was very apparent in Thursday night's victory, as his 26 shot attempts led them to a victory.
Now 3-2 on the season and sending a message to the rest of the league, Popovich's squad is certainly ahead of schedule thanks to their French phenom.
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