Victor Wembanyama doesn’t need to do more for the San Antonio Spurs. If anything, the message from the organization is the opposite: keep the burden down, preserve the legs, and let the rest of the roster absorb some of the grind.
That approach has been baked in since the Spurs drafted him in 2023, and last season gave them even more reason to stick with it. Wembanyama became the first player in NBA history to finish in the top three in MVP voting while playing fewer than 30 minutes per game. In 29.2 minutes a night, he still piled up 25 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists, led the league in blocks for the third straight season, and picked up the first-ever unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Award.
The Spurs have spent each year trying to build a better safety net behind him, and they finally added Luke Kornet last summer. Now they’ve got a frontcourt mix that gives them options: Kornet, Tarris Reed Jr., Jayden Quaintance and Kelly Olynyk returning to the lineup all give San Antonio different ways to handle the center spot.
That opens the door for several looks. The Spurs can pair Wembanyama with another big, give him more rest by leaning on the backups, or even go small with Harris, Carter Bryant or Keldon Johnson handling some minutes at center.
The goal is simple: keep Wembanyama fresh as often as possible.
"He’s a grown man who should help the Spurs deal better with postseason physicality," wrote David Aldridge regarding Harris. "The young bigs should help keep Wembanyama’s minutes down during the regular season and give Mitch Johnson different postseason options."
Even with the blood clots that cost him half of his sophomore season, Wembanyama still doesn’t really fit the label of injury-prone. He has missed games here and there, but not in long stretches. The Spurs may be being extra careful with a player this special, and that kind of caution makes sense.
Mitch Johnson also experimented with small-ball lineups late last season, and the results were better than expected. That gave San Antonio another way to handle stretches when Wembanyama is off the floor. Kornet can handle major minutes, despite a quiet postseason, and the two rookies bring real physicality inside.
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For the Spurs, the move fits neatly into a summer built around sorting through young players and filling out the back end of the roster. San Antonio still has openings on its offseason roster, which gives Peter a straightforward path into camp and a chance to compete alongside other recent additions, while the real question is how he fits into the mix once the evaluation period gets underway. [Read more 🡒]
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Jeremy Sochan is the latest name to tie the two organizations together, but he is hardly the first. Portland has also cycled through former Spurs like Drew Eubanks, Blake Wesley and Sidy Sissoko in recent years, which makes the overlap feel more than accidental and raises the question of how much of this is philosophy, and how much is a team trying to copy a model it believes can still be dangerous. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Quiet Offseason Puts Wembanyama Title Hopes Under The Microscope
After falling short in the Finals, the Spurs took a measured approach to the offseason, leaning into continuity rather than chasing a splashy reset. San Antonio added veteran size with Tobias Harris, drafted rookies Jayden Quaintance and Tarris Reed Jr., kept Harrison Barnes and Jordan McLaughlin in the fold, and locked in both Victor Wembanyama and Julian Champagnie on extensions as it tried to build around a young core without tearing up the roster.
The bet is obvious: more experience, more physicality, and fewer moving parts as Wembanyamas window starts to come into focus. Even so, the quiet nature of the summer left the Spurs only No. 14 in an NBA offseason evaluation, especially when stacked against teams that made louder, more aggressive swings. For San Antonio, the question now is whether restraint was a sign of patience or a missed chance to push harder while title hopes are still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]