Top Spurs shooter Devin Vassell will be out for a long time.

Devin Vassell will have surgery on his left knee. After getting hurt earlier in the season, he won’t be able to play for a while.

Vassell tried to get surgery when the season was over, but the pain and swelling were too much. He missed eight games because of pain in his left knee. After resting didn’t help, Vassell and the Spurs decided to have surgery. It would be better for his health in the long run, but the Spurs would lose one of their best players.

Vassell averages 19.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.2 steals per game for the Spurs. He’s also the best 3-point shooter on the Spurs, with a 40.4% rate. After the Spurs sent Dejounte Murray to the Atlanta Hawks in a trade, he scored a lot more points than he did last year.

Josh Richardson and Romeo Langford are the back-up shooting guards. Richardson scores 10.6 points on average and makes 35.6% of his 3-point shots. Langford averages 6.6 points per game and shoots 25.8% from three-point range. He can get out of his shooting slump if he plays more.

Unknown San Antonio-based

The Spurs picked Vassell, a star at Florida State, with the 11th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. In his first season, he played in only a few games and averaged 5.5 points per game. Gregg Popovich didn’t trust him until late in the season.

In his second NBA season, Vassell made a lot of progress. He got 12.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.1 steals per game on average. 23 games.

After Murray left, Vassell started every game and played a career-high 31.3 minutes per game. His average number of points scored went up again, from 12.5 to 19.4.

Murray’s move to the Hawks in the offseason cost the Spurs an All-Star player. Unlike teams in the Western Conference, the Spurs don’t have a big name without Murray. The average Spurs fan can only name three players, like leading scorer Keldon Johnson and maybe center Jakob Poeltl, who is “meme famous” because of an NBA-themed Wordle.

Johnson and Vassell play in San Antonio without being seen. In small media areas, this is what happens to the stars of losing teams. If they played in the Northeast or California, the media would talk about them.

Spurs #14 (Out of 15)

The San Antonio Spurs are one of the four worst teams in the NBA. Their 12-26 record is the second-worst in the Western Conference. The only team with fewer conference wins than the Spurs is the Houston Rockets (10-29).

Spurs are 13 games behind the first-place Denver Nuggets. They are 6.5 games away from the Play-In Tournament and 10th place. As one of the worst teams in the NBA this season, the Spurs may be able to get into the NBA Draft Lottery.

The Spurs’ odds on DraftKings for the Western Conference Play-In Tournament are +2200. They are the long shots, along with the Rockets.

There are three good teams and two bad teams in the Southwest Division. The Memphis Grizzlies (-280), the New Orleans Pelicans (+400), and the Dallas Mavericks (+550) are all fighting to be the best team in their division. At +10000 odds, the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs are crazy long shots to win the Southwest.

French Teen Spirit Scent

Popovich has been the Spurs’ coach for the longest time. Last season, he passed Don Nelson to become the NBA’s most successful coach. Even though there were rumors that Popovich would retire after last season, he is still coaching.

Popovich has won five NBA championships with the Spurs, including four between 1999 and 2007. In 2014, at the end of his career, he won a championship with young forward Kawhi Leonard and big Tim Duncan. Since then, San Antonio has had trouble. Popovich and the Spurs are putting their money on the draft lottery.

French big man Victor Wembanyama is one of the best players of his generation. He’s the most wanted teen since LeBron James left high school for the NBA. People often say that Duncan is like Wembanyama because he won five titles with Popovich and the Spurs.

The Spurs are willing to look bad this season in order to get a superstar who could help them win a lot of titles in the late 2020s and early 2030s. The NBA’s three worst teams have a 14% chance of getting the #1 pick in the draft lottery. The Spurs could draft Duncan II if they win the lottery.