Although the San Antonio Spurs find themselves in playoff contention, several recent developments have their season teetering on the brink of success and failure. This after it looked as though they were ready to go on a run and solidify their place in the West playoff race.
However, they have since fallen flat., going 3-6 in their last nine games. Five of their last six losses have been to playoff teams, with them losing three of those games by five or fewer points, with poor late-game execution biting them each time.
That has coincided with the change to their starting lineup with them reinserting Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan and benching Stephon Castle and Julian Champagnie. The results have been lackluster.
Since Castle has moved back to the second unit, his Rookie of the Year candidacy has dropped like a stone. He previously ranked first in the NBA's Rookie Ladder but has dropped to fourth as his minutes and production have dropped.
While he has shown a knack for getting to the rim and finishing through contact, the jumpers he was hitting early on this season haven't gone in at an alarming rate, making him a far less effective offensive player.
Castle's diminishing Rookie of the Year prospects are one thing, but the Spurs have had plenty of other problems as well. They recently blew a 20-point lead against the middling Chicago Bulls, wasting a dominant game by Victor Wembanyama, who posted 23 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 blocks.
That has been par for the course, with him averaging an outstanding 25.1 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 4 blocks per game. He is on pace to become the first player ever to average at least 25 points and 4 blocks per game and the first to average 4 blocks per game since Dikembe Mutombo almost 30 years ago, but the Spurs haven't made the most of his strong play.
They were then hammered by the Milwaukee Bucks, with San Antonio looking like they were in over their heads. Those losses, and the Castle struggles, expose several cracks in San Antonio's roster.
The San Antonio Spurs' flawed roster construction has come back to bite them.
One issue is that they don't have a second option to help Wembanyama, with their second-best player technically being Vassell, even though he is averaging only 15.2 points per game. That is especially surprising since he averaged more than 19 points last season and looked strong over the first 10 games that he played this season. With Vasell failing to step up, San Antonio has very little margin for error.
Worse yet, they are all littered with non-shooters, with five of the 10 rotation players being below-average shooters. Having so many non-shooting threats and in a rotation is a recipe for disaster. To their credit, San Antonio has actually done relatively well, all things considered, with them in Play-in tournament contention and playing at a near .500 level.
Simply put, the Spurs need a second option and more shooting, and they don't have either on their roster. That means that they desperately need a trade to make their roster make sense. There are several potential deals that could help them address their lack of a second option while adding more shooting. They should strongly consider making a move to ensure they can finally make the playoffs, giving their young core their first taste of the playoffs.
Ultimately, the Spurs season is teetering on the brink after their recent struggles. With the trade deadline less than a month away, they will have some work to do to fix their roster or risk wasting a chance to make the playoffs for the first time in years.