- After posting his first career triple-double in just 21 minutes Wednesday night, Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama said he would like to see his minutes restriction lifted soon, tweets Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. Wembanyama said the restriction “could be turned off like this” as he snapped his fingers, adding that he hopes to talk to the team’s medical staff about the possibility.
- Wembanyama is expected to be part of the French team for this summer’s Olympics in Paris, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. The Spurs‘ top draft pick didn’t take part in last year’s World Cup, but there appear to be no impediments to him trying to win an Olympic gold medal in his native country.
- French phenom Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs will be one of the teams playing in the NBA’s annual Paris game next season, reports Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Although nothing’s official yet, the Spurs have agreed in principle to participate, sources tell Vardon.
- Elsewhere on the Wembanyama front, Mike Finger of The San Antonio Express-News argues that the Spurs should make the big man’s life easier by finding a way to get him more playing time alongside a traditional point guard, while the 20-year-old spoke this week about getting over the frustration caused by his ongoing minutes restriction. “It’s hard, but my body needs time to adapt to the load and this long season,” Wembanyama said, per Vardon. “Once it’s ready, it’s go time, and there will be no need to be frustrated.”
The Spurs are among the teams with a “level of exploratory interest” in Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, Shams Charania of The Athletic stated on FanDuel TV (Twitter video link via Noah Magaro-George of The Vic-And-Roll).
The 29th overall pick in the 2016 draft, Murray spent his first six NBA seasons in San Antonio before being traded to Atlanta during the 2022 offseason, so the Spurs are obviously very familiar with him as a person and a player. And multiple reports have suggested that the Hawks are open to inquiries on the 2022 All-Star.
The Spurs are also on the hunt for an answer at point guard to pair with No. 1 overall pick Victor Wembanyama. The team appears to view last season’s starter Tre Jones as a better fit as a long-term backup and has tried youngsters like Jeremy Sochan and Malaki Branham in the point guard role so far this season, with mixed results.
Still, within his own report, Charania seemingly downplays the likelihood of San Antonio making a move to reacquire Murray. The 5-30 Spurs are still in the early stages of their rebuilding process and while they have a plethora of draft assets, they presumably won’t be eager to give up several of those picks to acquire a veteran who’s already in his prime.
“I think they’re going to take a very patient approach in their building process,” Charania said. “There’s not a real level of urgency, of going out there immediately. They’re going to be patient. They’re going to pick and choose their spots, whether that’s this season, in the summer, next season. There’s not a real urgency, but they have a runway to make things happen potentially if they want to.”
In the event that Atlanta and San Antonio do discuss a Murray deal, the Hawks would likely be motivated to reacquire their 2025 and 2027 first-rounders, which they gave up when they initially traded for the standout guard.
Getting those picks back would give Atlanta more flexibility in future trades (due to the Stepien Rule) and would put the Hawks in a better position to take a step back in their own building process if necessary, since they wouldn’t have to worry about potentially shipping a lottery pick to the Spurs.
The Spurs fell just short on Thursday in a hard-fought battle with Milwaukee, dropping a 125-121 decision to the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed, but it was another big night for Victor Wembanyama. As Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News details, the rookie big man racked up 27 points, nine rebounds, and five blocks in just 26 minutes of action, earning praise from two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for his performance — and his potential.
“Everything that he dreams of, it’s going to happen for him,” Antetokounmpo said, adding that he’s “never seen anything like” Wembanyama.
Antetokounmpo also suggested that Wembanyama, who celebrated his 20th birthday on Thursday, is ahead of where Giannis was at similar points in their respective careers, telling reporters that the Spurs youngster is having a “Rookie of the Year season.” However, it was Chet Holmgren who earned Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors for a second consecutive time earlier this week, which Wembanyama says he’ll use as motivation.
“Of course, of course,” Wembanyama said (Twitter video link via Hector Ledesma of Clutch Points). “I’m dedicated and I know at the end of the day I’m going to get what I deserve, and every game is a statement from now on.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Wembanyama remains on a minutes restriction for now, which head coach Gregg Popovich has said won’t be lifted until the big man’s ankle gets reevaluated. According to Popovich, that exam is “coming soon,” per Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). “It’s within the next week or two, I believe,” Popovich said on Thursday. “But I don’t know the exact date.”
- With Malaki Branham out on Thursday due to a right ankle sprain, the Spurs moved point guard Tre Jones into the starting lineup for the first time this season. The move worked well, according to Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News, who notes that the ball flowed nicely on offense and San Antonio’s second unit held its own without Jones. Asked why San Antonio hasn’t been starting Jones all season, McDonald explained (via Twitter) that the team already knows what it has in the fourth-year veteran and has been more interested in learning what players like Branham and Jeremy Sochan can and can’t handle when tasked with the job.
- Forward Cedi Osman, who has seen his role and his production fluctuate in his first season as a Spur, told Orsborn (Twitter link) on Thursday after scoring 19 total points in his previous seven appearances that he’s still working to understand “what the coaches are asking from me” from game to game. Osman expressed confidence that things “will be better” for him and followed up those comments with a nice showing on Thursday — he scored 13 points to go along with five assists and three steals vs. Milwaukee.
- After not playing more than 12 minutes in any of the Spurs’ first 31 games, Blake Wesley has averaged 17.6 MPG in the past three and has earned praise from Popovich, tweets Orsborn. “He’s played freely,” Popovich said. “He doesn’t look like he is worried about making a mistake. He’s been excellent at the defensive end.”
- After being traded to the Spurs last summer, Cedi Osman still has fond memories of Cleveland, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. Osman will make his return to the city on Sunday as his new team takes on the Cavaliers. “They really do care about their sports teams, with the Guardians, the Browns, the Cavs,” Osman said. “I always felt their support during games, even during a bad stretch. In my second and third year when we were kind of rebuilding, they were supporting us no matter what.”
Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama has grown increasingly frustrated playing under a minutes restriction, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Since injuring his right ankle in mid-December, Wembanyama has sat out three games and has been limited to about 24 minutes per night in the five games he has played.
As Orsborn explains, the team imposed the limit due to concerns that Wembanyama may be at risk of further injury if he plays too much too soon. After being pulled with just over three minutes left in Tuesday’s loss to Memphis, Wembanyama lobbied to return to the game and surpass his usual limit.
“I just talk to the coach and I say, ‘Yeah, I played 25 minutes already. What is two more?'” Wembanyama said after the game, per Orsborn. “Looking back, I understand their point of view, but at the moment it is hard and frustrating.”
Asked on Tuesday if Wembanyama’s minutes restriction will be lifted anytime soon, Popovich suggested that the big man’s ankle will have to be examined again before the team makes a decision.
“In a certain amount of time, we will take more pictures and that will determine whether the minutes thing changes or not,” Popovich said. “It is the same (number of minutes) every night. I think we were a minute off tonight. Twenty-four minutes is the deal.”
Here’s more on the Spurs:
- Popovich is pleased to see Devin Vassell and Wembanyama continuing to build chemistry on the offensive end of the court, Orsborn writes for The Express-News. The development of their two-man game was cited as one reason for Keldon Johnson‘s move to the bench. “They’re starting to read each other,” Popovich said. “They’re figuring out that he’s 7-3, you can throw it up in the air and when he rolls you got to get a pocket pass in there. (Wembanyama) makes good decisions and can either score or kick it to someone else because we really haven’t had that to a great degree in the past, so seeing those two guys meld together is important for us. They’re doing pretty well.”
- Johnson’s points and free throw attempts per game have both increased since his move to the bench, and the Spurs wing acknowledged that he’s playing more aggressively in his new role, per Orsborn. “I guess you can say that,” Johnson said. “… I try to bring a lot more energy and try to assert myself a little bit more coming in out the bench and just boost the team any way I can.”
- After signing a two-way contract with the Spurs, forward/center Mamadi Diakite referred to the franchise as “the best” at player development and expressed excitement about playing for Popovich, according to Orsborn. “I was starstruck because I have watched him since the beginning, before I started playing basketball,” Diakite said. “So, getting to meet him and greet him and play for him is a great accomplishment so far for me. When we first met, I said to him, I had been watching him since I was young. And he answered, ‘You are still young and you have a lot more to go.'”
- Diakite’s two-way deal covers only the rest of the current season, not 2024/25, Hoops Rumors has confirmed, so he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency in the summer.
- The injuries continue to pile up for the Spurs, who were already missing big men Zach Collins and Charles Bassey and now have starting guard Malaki Branham dealing with an ankle injury, according to Orsborn. With Branham’s status for Thursday’s game and beyond still unclear, Popovich downplayed San Antonio’s health problems. “We miss Malaki and we miss Zach, but everybody’s got somebody that’s out, so that’s not a big deal,” he said. “But for us it is because they’re such a young team and they need all their bodies. But I’m pleased with their effort. They just have to keep the attitude up.”
Fans in San Antonio, where Derrick White spent the first four-and-a-half seasons of his NBA career, are on board with the campaign to get the Celtics guard to his first All-Star Game this season. As Brian Robb of MassLive details, Sunday’s broadcast of Boston’s blowout victory over the Spurs picked up multiple “White’s an All-Star!’ chants from the San Antonio crowd.
“I’m just thankful and grateful,” White told reporters after the victory. “I just try to go out there and help us win. If I were to make the All-Star game, it’s because of how much we are winning and the type of team we have. I’m just thankful to be a part of this team and the culture we’re building here. Me making it or not making it doesn’t change the fact that I’m just thankful to be here.”
White’s former head coach Gregg Popovich said on Sunday that he “couldn’t be more proud of a player” than he is of White, who was a starter in the Spurs’ backcourt before being shipped to Boston at the 2022 trade deadline.
“When he first came, I don’t think he believed he belonged in the NBA,” Popovich said. “To watch him develop through the years, started here with the G League. Playing with us and then starting for us and then taking more steps in Boston has just been a thrill to watch.
“He’s one of the greatest guys ever. His confidence has just exploded. It’s been a process. He’s been in the league now, six, seven years. I’m not sure anymore. But he’s a great story. And starting out at the bottom and believing in himself and doing the work necessary to get where he is now. Just thrilled for him.”
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Appearing on the latest episode of Podcast P with Paul George, former Celtics forward Gordon Hayward revisited the 2018/19 team that lost to Milwaukee in the second round of the playoffs and posited that “too many agendas” in the locker room led to that club’s downfall (hat tip to Andrew Peters of Bleacher Report). “In my eyes it was just, we all had too many agendas, and the agenda to win the whole thing was not the main one,” Hayward said. “Not to blame anyone either, because I think it was all human nature.” That Celtics team featured Hayward in his first healthy season in Boston and Kyrie Irving in his final year with the organization.
- Addressing Hayward’s comments, Jayson Tatum clarified that there were no locker room issues on that Celtics club, but agreed with his former teammate that the on-court chemistry was a problem, referring to it as a learning experience. “What Gordon said was kind of right,” Tatum said, per Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. “Guys would come back from injury, guys were trying to prove themselves, like myself. I was trying to be better than I was last year, and it was just kind of a tough year. … Everybody wanted to do more, and we didn’t quite understand how we all could coexist with each other.”
- Celtics guard Jrue Holiday missed Sunday’s game due to a sprained right elbow, but head coach Joe Mazzulla said he had no long-term concerns about that injury, tweets Jay King of The Athletic. Holiday was back in action on Tuesday vs. Oklahoma City.
- Prior to the Thunder‘s win over Boston on Tuesday, OKC head coach Mark Daigneault raved about the impact that Celtics big man Al Horford had during Daigneault’s first year as a head coach in 2020/21, according to Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman. “Every first-year NBA head coach should be as lucky as I was to have Al Horford on their team. Stud professional and person,” Daigneault said. “And for a guy that has as much experience as he has, not cynical, very solution-oriented, not a know-it-all — he knows it all, but he always channels that toward solutions and toward the team.”
Malaki Branham suffered a right ankle sprain during the first half at Memphis on Tuesday and was ruled out, Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News tweets.
The Spurs’ staff has been willing to allow Branham to work through his mistakes at the point, according to Orsborn.
“It’s a whole new world for him and he’s absorbing it every game, basically trying to figure out the role,” coach Gregg Popovich said. “It’s a tough role. It’s the most difficult on the court really in some ways. So, he’s been very successful in taking steps each time to understand how he can help the team, with being aggressive, decision-making, all those sorts of things. He’s dealing with all that, been doing well.”
Here’s more from the Southwest Division:
- Discussing the right ankle sprain that is expected to sideline teammate Zach Collins for two-to-four weeks, Spurs sharpshooter Doug McDermott said he appreciates the franchise’s conservative approach to injury management. “They look after your body,” McDermott told Orsborn. “They are very player-friendly in that regard. Pop is one of the best I have been around with that stuff. They care about your career. We all appreciate how they go about that.”
- Kyrie Irving returned on Monday from a heel contusion that had sidelined him since Dec. 8. As Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News details, the Mavericks guard admitted he was very concerned when the injury occurred, as teammate Dwight Powell fell on his leg. “Oh, yeah, I was scared, man. I was very scared,” Irving said. “My daughter was at the game. I was trying to make sure she was good first, so I went into daddy mode right after. But once I got home, man it was a struggle, just even going to sleep. You could feel the throbbing. I wasn’t sure of the significance of the injury and how long I was going to be out.”
- Luka Doncic is grateful the Mavericks signed Dante Exum, who is currently dealing with a heel injury, as a free agent last summer, Grant Afseth of Sports Illustrated writes. Exum has made an unexpected impact since returning to the NBA from the EuroLeague, starting 14 games and making contributions across the board. “Honestly, he’s been amazing so far,” Doncic said of Exum. “Not just really good, but amazing. His IQ is insane. He’s driving to the basket. His layups, he’s been hitting threes. I’m really happy that he’s on the team because he’s been a great addition to our team.”
The Spurs have submitted a request for disabled player exception following Charles Bassey‘s season-ending ACL injury, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
A disabled player exception grants an over-the-cap team some extra spending power when it loses a player to an injury deemed likely to sideline him through at least June 15.
As we explain in our glossary entry, the exception can be used to sign a free agent, to claim a player off waivers, or to acquire a player in a trade. A DPE can only be used on a single player and can only accommodate a player on a one-year deal. A free agent signee can’t get a multiyear contract, and any trade or waiver target must be in the final year of his contract.
The disabled player exception is worth either half the injured player’s salary or the value of the mid-level exception, whichever is lesser. Since Bassey was only earning $2.6MM this season, the Spurs’ DPE (if granted) would only be worth $1.3MM, so its usefulness would be extremely limited.
Additionally, while the disabled player exception gives a team extra cap flexibility, it doesn’t open up an extra spot on the 15-man roster. The club must have a roster spot available to use the DPE to add a player, which the Spurs currently don’t.
Still, while San Antonio may not end up having any use for a disabled player exception, it can’t hurt to apply and potentially add one more minor asset to its toolbox ahead of next month’s trade deadline.
So far this season, the Bulls, Grizzlies, and Trail Blazers have been granted DPEs, while the Knicks have reportedly applied for one as well.
The Spurs have signed free agent forward/center Mamadi Diakite to a two-way contract, the team announced in a press release.
Diakite, 26, went undrafted in 2020 out of Virginia after winning the national championship with the Cavaliers in 2018/19. This is his fourth NBA season — he played 49 games with Milwaukee, Oklahoma City and Cleveland from 2020-23 and holds career averages of 3.2 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 10.3 MPG.
A native of Guinea, Diakite was unable to find a team as a free agent this offseason, eventually landing with the Knicks on an Exhibit 10 deal that gave him a bonus after he was waived and spent time with their G League affiliate in Westchester. In 19 Showcase Cup and regular season games with Westchester in 2023/24, he averaged 8.8 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 1.1 BPG.
San Antonio recently released rookie center Charles Bediako from his two-way deal after he suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee, opening up the two-way spot that went to Diakite. The Spurs now have a full 18-man roster.