Spurs Mock Off-Season: What Does a Wembanyama-Led Team Look Like?
By: Bryce Williams
The San Antonio Spurs have been rebuilding since dealing Kawhi and Dejounte Murray away for future assets. They have drafted well and built a solid young core to support a superstar player. Thankfully, they won the lottery and will be able to draft Victor Wembanyama, the French unicorn being touted by some as the best prospect ever. In this mock off-season, we are taking over as GM of the Spurs and will look to turn this team into a playoff contender heading into the 2023–2024 season.
NBA DRAFT:
This should be pretty easy, as the Spurs have the number one pick in the upcoming NBA Draft. They will take Victor Wembanyama, a highly skilled center with Hall of Fame potential. Check out our profile for our full scouting report on Wembanyama. The Spurs also have picks 33 and 44 in the second round. After taking a no-brainer at pick one, San Antonio can afford to take some risks with their second-round picks. Their backcourt does not ooze playmaking talent, and at pick 33 we would love it if they took Marcus Sasser, the Senior guard out of Houston. Keeping him in-state, Sasser is a bonafide killer and leader at the point guard position. He would immediately slide into the backup guard role behind Tre Jones and will be able to pack a scoring punch off the bench with his shooting and ball-handling. At 44, we would look for them to add some defensive versatility alongside Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan with Jaylen Clark, a Junior wing from UCLA. Clark is an excellent defender, being able to guard 1–4 on the court. He is also a deadly shooter from deep, making him a nice potential 3-and-D wing in today’s NBA. The Spurs would come out of the draft with a franchise cornerstone, a guard with scoring and playmaking upside, and a potential high-level role player. I would consider that a success.
FREE AGENCY:
It will be tough to figure out what the Spurs want to do in free agency, and whether or not they want to accelerate the rebuild now that Wembanyama is in town. Priority one should be resigning or matching the offer that Tre Jones gets offered as an RFA, as he was a steadying force at the lead guard position. Will Jones be a lead guard on a championship team? I doubt it, but he is a nice piece to have on a roster for relatively cheap. In our mock off-season, the team does not look to resign Romeo Langford, Gorgui Dieng, Keita Bates-Diop, or Julian Champagnie. This would send the Spurs into free agency with somewhere around 43 million dollars in cap space. The first target for San Antonio would be Austin Reaves from the Lakers. Reaves will be highly sought after following a great ending to the season where he was instrumental in the Lakers’ deep playoff run to the Western Conference Finals. He looked like the player he was at Oklahoma, relentlessly attacking defenders, pressuring them at the rim when they would overcommit to his deadly three-point shot. Projections have Reaves signing for four years at around 85 million dollars. Signing Reaves would give the Spurs another playmaker alongside Sochan and Jones, while also giving them cap flexibility if they wanted to trade for a star player to pair with Wembanyama. The Spurs would also be looking for wing depth, targeting Jalen McDaniels. With the recent influx of talent, San Antonio would look to cut, buy out, or trade either Doug McDermott or Devonte’ Graham.
PROJECTED 2023–2024 ROSTER:
Starting Lineup:
Tre Jones
Austin Reaves
Keldon Johnson
Jeremy Sochan
Victor Wembanyama
Bench: Marcus Sasser, Devin Vassell, Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley, Doug McDermott, Jalen McDaniels, Jaylen Clark, Zach Collins, Khem Birch
Charles Bassey
CONCLUSION/SEASON OUTLOOK:
With a revamped roster and Victor Wembanyama, the Spurs will be taking the right steps toward playoff and future championship contention. A group of Reaves/Johnson/Sochan/Wembanyama would be an exciting core with a high upside. San Antonio does not need to go acquire a star just yet, rather they should elect to add a couple more building blocks in order to support what is likely to be a star guard.
