San Antonio Spurs player Devin Vassell has issued a confident warning to the NBA, amidst what he sees as a breakout year for the team.
Vassell believes the Spurs’ blend of youth and experience spells trouble for their rivals. The Spurs’ second-longest tenured player is set to experience his first postseason since joining the team.
Vassell’s Confident Outlook
“I keep saying it, but the league’s in trouble,” Vassell declared.
The Spurs’ roster includes Stephon Castle, the reigning Rookie of the Year, and Dylan Harper, the second overall pick of the 2025 draft. The team also centres around 22-year-old Victor Wembanyama.
“We’ve got a lot of young talent that is really good and the sky’s the limit for really all of them and really all of us,” Vassell added. “You still look at KJ (Keldon Johnson), me, Fox. All of us are still 25, 26, 27 years old. It’s an exciting time to be a Spur and to be a Spurs fan for sure.”
Building Good Habits
Vassell, the 11th overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, joined the Spurs after the first of six straight losing seasons. His teams have since won 33 (in a 72-game season), 34, 22, 22 and 34 games.
“I think that, honestly, we were all just trying to work on our habits and I think KJ has talked about it a lot of times,” Vassell shared. “Even when we were losing, we were still building good habits and trying to translate good habits into now, where it looks like there’s clips going around where you see two, three, four or five extra passes, then we’re getting shots. That’s what we were trying to instill these past couple years.”
Eyes on the Playoffs
Before their six-year postseason drought, the Spurs tied an NBA record by making 22 straight playoff appearances. It’s an organisation so accustomed to success that though this marks their 53rd season in San Antonio, fans can more easily remember the years in which they didn’t qualify for the second season.
“Honestly, great,” is how Vassell described clinching at least the second seed in the Western Conference.
“I mean, we haven’t accomplished anything yet,” Vassell cautioned. “We’ve still got to get to the playoffs and finish out the season strong and get this thing going. But it’s great compared to these past couple years to be in this position and not being on the opposite side of some of these teams that we’ve been facing.”
The Spurs could still catch the Oklahoma City Thunder for the best record in the West. Either way, this year’s results already speak for themselves.
And, as Vassell sees it, they’ve been a time coming.
“With the team and the talent that we have now, it’s able to show. But I think we were always trying to build the right habits. It just wasn’t coming into winning.”