The game plan for the San Antonio Spurs during the 2022-23 NBA season was made clear with the moves that they made in the offseason. They were entering a rebuild and focusing on the future after trading away All-Star point guard Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks for Danilo Gallinari, three unprotected first-round picks and a pick swap.
As if the plan wasn’t clear enough, head coach Gregg Popovich even told reporters that no one should be running to bet on the Spurs to win the NBA Championship this season. While they currently aren’t contenders, they are hoping that is something that changes very soon.
San Antonio has set itself up to be in a position to land a top pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. This draft class has some generational talent, headlined by Victor Wembanyama and Scoot Henderson. Landing either of those players should put a franchise on the fast track to turning things around.
Having one star is a good start to building a contender in the NBA, but the Spurs are hopeful that any prospect they add will be a piece to an already strong core. What the 2022-23 season is really about in San Antonio is developing the young players on the team and figuring out who could be long-term pieces.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell & San Antonio Spurs Updates
The Spurs had three first-round picks in the 2022 NBA Draft used on Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley. Tre Jones is entering his third season in the NBA and first as a starter. Romeo Langford was acquired in the Derrick White trade last season from the Boston Celtics and Charles Bassey was signed after the Philadelphia 76ers waived him a few weeks ago.
There is a ton of young talent on the roster and there aren’t many organizations better at developing players than the Spurs. But, the two that the organization is hoping to set themselves apart are Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell.
Johnson already established himself as part of the core going forward. He had a semi-breakout during the 2021-22 season, averaging 17 points per game. He signed a four-year, $74 million extension this past offseason as the Spurs planned on making him the vocal point of their offense with Murray gone.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell & San Antonio Spurs Updates
Thus far, he has been up to the task. While his overall efficiency has dropped slightly, as the 45.1 percent he is shooting from the field would be a career-low, he has improved his 3-point shooting percentage once again to 42.3 percent on high volume. That has led to him averaging a career-high 22.7 points per game and he is improving in other areas as well.
The ball was going to be put in his hands more, so Johnson needed to show improvement as a playmaker. So far so good as he is averaging a career-high 3.6 assists per game, experiencing a huge jump in assist percentage from 9.5 last season to 17 percent this season.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell & San Antonio Spurs Updates
San Antonio also has to be happy about the progress that Vassell is making. The third-year man out of Florida State is having a magnificent start to the season, taking full advantage of the added opportunities.
Vassell is just shy of the 20 points per game mark himself, currently averaging 19.6 as his efficiency has taken a sizable jump. He is making 45.7 percent of his shots overall and an impressive 42 percent from 3-point range.
Just like Johnson, Vassell has also seen a nice jump in his playmaking, averaging 3.4 assists per game and seeing his assist percentage jump from 9.7 to 16.9 percent. The Spurs are putting the ball in the hands of their young wings more and it is paying dividends.
LATEST NBA NEWS: Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell & San Antonio Spurs Updates
This is likely exactly how the Spurs would have drawn it up at the beginning of the season. They are remaining competitive in games, as they are 6-9 on the season and the players they wanted to see ascensions from are improving.
As long as that level of play from Johnson and Vassell remains, it will be a lot easier to stomach the losses as San Antonio knows they would have a chance to add a potential superstar to an already strong foundation.
