The San Antonio Spurs are entering the 2023-24 NBA season with more eyes on them than ever before…sort of.
While it’s true that the Spurs have a 7-4 attention-getter in Victor Wembanyama (and for good reason) the team as a whole and the other emerging stars on the roster are not getting the love they deserve. The Spurs are expected to build something special with Victor Wembanyama, but other pieces are just as important as he is: Devin Vassell is poised to break out as a star, Keldon Johnson is becoming a leader, and Jeremy Sochan remains underrated.
ESPN sent reporter Andrew Lopez to San Antonio to cover the Spurs full-time after years of not having a beat writer. Similarly, the NBA seems to be giving the Spurs some flowers. However, upon closer examination, the newfound coverage is less about the Spurs and more about their new star.
A showdown for the ages: Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren are favorites to win ROTY.
USA TODAY
Since August 23rd, @NBA on Twitter has posted about the Spurs or any Spur aside from Wemby 10 times. Wembanyama, on the other hand, was mentioned a whopping 34 times.
This is not to say that Wembanyama doesn’t deserve all the attention. He’s the best prospect since LeBron James (mentioned ten times by @NBA since August 23rd) and is revitalizing basketball in San Antonio.
However, in the Spurs’ preseason game against the Thunder, Zach Collins and Malaki Branham looked elite. Devin Vassell signed a whopper of an extension. Jeremy Sochan was thoughtful and poised at Media Day, and the NBA is ignoring all of that, either intentionally or not.
When Kobe Bryant won without Shaq, it was made out that he did it all by himself, ignoring the contributions of Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol, Metta World Peace, and Andrew Bynum.
The Spurs could be going down a similar path, and the NBA isn’t doing the best job of marketing their brightest young team.
