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For most of the last two and a half seasons, Devin Vassell has served as the San Antonio Spurs second best offensive player. It stands to reason for a guy with his offensive talent who went 11th overall in the draft. That changed when the Spurs traded for De'Aaron Fox to pair alongside the generational Victor Wembanyama. Add Stephon Castle's likely Rookie of the Year campaign, and it's a completely new reality for Vassell now.
“I want to make sure that with De'Aaron, Vic and Steph, the people that we have here are going to cause more and more attention. I know I'm probably going to be getting a lot more open looks,” the 24-year-old Spurs guard admitted.
Vassell averaged a career high 19.5 points per game during Wemby's rookie year last season. That came off the heels of his 18.5 in 2022-2023. This season, he averaged 16.3 per contest.
“Bringing me in, that naturally takes the ball out of your hands at times,” Fox said of his Spurs teammate. “That's the nature of this business.
“With that being said, when I got here, I'm told him, ‘You're never going to get the best defender when I'm on the court, regardless of how I'm playing.'
Fox averaged 19.7 points per contest for the Spurs in his 17 with them since arriving via trade in February. He'd averaged at least 25 per night in four of his previous five seasons, making an All-Star Game in 2023.
“For him, getting a weaker defender and then being able to play off of close-outs, I feel makes the game easier,” Fox added of Vassell.
Devin Vassell to prioritize utilizing talent around him
A 44.4% career shooter from the field, Vassell averages 37% beyond the arc. It's an area he says he'll further emphasize this summer.
“Being consistent, being able to space the floor and making sure that if they double off of Vic, if they're doubling off of De'Aaron because he's having a good game or however it goes. We have so many weapons. Going forward, I know I'll probably get a lot of open looks and just being that knockdown shooter,” the Spurs guard said.
The Spurs guard has consistently emphasized improving the frequency with which he attacks the basket as well as his defense on the other end.
“What are those things, those goals,” Vassell reflected on as he described how else he could prove most effective.
“Having my game translate through everything. There might be games where I don't score like that, but just impacting the ball defensively. Being a pest. We got Vic in the back line, but if we can pressure the ball be in the pass lanes, we'll be able to get out and run. I'm just excited to be able to finally be able to do that,” the Spurs guard continued.
Step one is the baseline. As the year came to an end, Vassell pondered. An altered future appears to await.
“Just going back and looking back at the season and seeing what I did good what I did bad and then just learning from that.”
