The San Antonio Spurs are one of the more intriguing teams in the league. Young and underdeveloped but full of potential, the Spurs now have a franchise centerpiece in Victor Wembanyama to start building around.
Often overlooked, but quickly remedying that with solid play, is fourth-year forward Devin Vassell. Granted, he’s not the media spectacle that Wembanyama is, but Vassell has continued to steadily improve his game enough to be taken seriously as a valuable contributor. But is it enough to keep him around for the long term? Here’s a look at Vassell’s role after the Spurs rebuild.
Vassell has managed to come into his own over his last few seasons in the NBA, steadily improving his stats. Aside from points, he’s also been able to increase his assists, free throw attempts, and effective field goal percentage every season.
What these numbers indicate is a player developing into his own game. He’s always been an effective scorer, but his mid-range jumper has become elite. Hitting 39.4 percent of his mid-range shots, Vassell gets the majority of his points here.
Over the last decade, the league has trended towards more three-point attempts, but a high-percentage scorer from anywhere is valuable. Despite his untapped potential (still shooting just over 38 percent from behind the arc), he’s still capable of hitting those shots and must be guarded as such. Given this and his incredible mid-range jumper, Vassell could develop into one of the more talented scorers for this team.
He’s also been seeing an increased role each season, as his average minutes played continues to increase, even as he’s dealt with injury. Not only that, but his usage rate has jumped up to 23.7 percent, meaning almost a quarter of the Spurs’ possessions end by his hand (good or bad).
Posting a defensive rating of 119.8 this season, Vassell is also a respectable defender. Although it would benefit the Spurs if his defense were slightly better, backing him with one of the biggest, most talented prospects the league has ever seen in Wembanyama helps tremendously.
While Vassell has shown a tremendous amount of promise, he’s also shown that he’s not immune to injury. Suffering injuries mainly to his knee, ankle, and adductor, Vassell has yet to make it through a full season.
Though currently manageable, as the Spurs are one of the worst teams in the league, it is something they will have to consider when looking at the pieces with which they want to build their future franchise.
In his first three seasons, he played in a total of 171 games (out of the 246 total that the Spurs played). Three seasons is a hefty sample size, and missing almost an entire season’s worth of games isn’t ideal. However, injuries are a part of the game, and this alone shouldn’t be enough to end Vassell’s tenure in San Antonio.
