The San Antonio Spurs need to be careful not to waste their time with Victor Wembanyama.
It may seem like Wemby is years away from his prime, but he’s already an elite NBA defender. The Spurs should be making win-now moves if they are wise, or at least attempting to embody that mindset in 2024-25.
San Antonio added Chris Paul over the summer, which was a great move despite Paul’s age, but the Spurs will still struggle to score at times. Another bona fide bucket-getter would do wonders for Gregg Popovich’s ball club.
Is adding someone like Trae Young an impossibility for San Antonio? Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes certainly doesn’t think so, seeing as Hughes recently discussed why a Young-to-Spurs deal would make sense.
“Adding Young would mean an almost top-down stylistic change for his acquiring team, but no organization has the malleability San Antonio does with Victor Wembanyama,” Hughes said. “On defense, specifically, Wemby might be the best player in the league to solve the problems Young causes.”
“The main drawback would be taking the ball out of Wembanyama's hands, but it's not yet clear he'll develop into an offensive alpha who dominates touch time. Young could raise the level of San Antonio's attack while Wemby ensures elite production on the other end.”
“Atlanta's interest would stem from the potential to get back the first-rounders it sent away in the Dejounte Murray deal a couple of years ago.”
At the very least, a Young-Wemby pairing would sell a ton of tickets and enhance the Spurs’ brand presence. There’s no doubt that San Antonio would be interested in the idea; it would just be a matter of putting together an attractive enough package for Atlanta or bringing in a third team if necessary.
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