Spurs Fantasy Basketball Outlook: Victor Wembanyama, Tre Jones, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and More

After tackling some of the NBA’s better teams - Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics - it’s time to start previewing some of the rebuilding teams from a season ago.

For this discussion, we’ll talk about the San Antonio Spurs. We’ll check out some of the team’s top fantasy players, their Average Draft Positions (ADPs) and then determine if that’s when you should be drafting those players.

Get ready for draft season! Try out the Draft Genius, check out ADPs, take a look at our weekly and daily projections and get advice with our draft analyzer and trade analyzer.

Victor Wembanyama Fantasy Outlook

The big offseason move for the Spurs was, of course, drafting Wembanyama with the first pick in the NBA Draft. The 7-foot-4, 210-pound freak athlete from France has plenty of hype surrounding him, and is expected to immediately become one of the league’s top players.

Wembanyama has shown flashes of his immense potential across two preseason games so far. He’s averaged 21.5 points on 64.3% shooting from the floor while playing only 21 minutes a contest. He’s made 3-of-10 3-pointers and 18 of his 28 shots overall.

The big man is only averaging 4.5 rebounds a game and has turned the ball over eight times while picking up four assists. He’s also averaging a steal and two blocks a contest. Wembanyama has only committed two fouls.

It’d be tough to predict exactly what the rookie might average this upcoming season. Looking at last year’s totals though, I’d guess that Wembanyama could lead the team in several stats. He should be among the team leaders in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. If he’s able to be an efficient shooter, he could easily lead the team in scoring, but I’d expect some growing pains here and there this season.

Wembanyama has an ADP of 21 in head-to-head leagues and 26 in category/roto leagues.

Tre Jones Fantasy Outlook

Jones broke out in his third NBA season, averaging over twice as many points as he did as a sophomore. He played in 68 games in total, including 65 starts. Jones averaged 29.2 minutes played.

Jones turned in season averages of 12.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.1 blocks. He shot 45.9% overall, but just 28.5% on 3-pointers. Jones was 86% on his free throws.

With Wembanyama now in the picture, Jones won’t be as high a scoring option for the team, but I still think he can average more points than what he did last season. His assist numbers will also have a chance to improve. 

Jones’ 3-point woes are likely going to keep him from reaching 20-point games with much consistency. He finished with over 20 points just eight times a season ago.

Jones has an ADP of 75 in H2H leagues and 105 in category/roto leagues.

Keldon Johnson Fantasy Outlook

Johnson was the Spurs’ leading scorer a season ago. He’s improved his scoring in the first four years of his NBA career, and now will have a legitimate scoring threat (Wembanyama) to help open up some more offensive opportunities.

Johnson averaged 22 points, 5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.2 blocks across 32.7 minutes and 63 games played, all of which were starts. He shot 45.2% overall and 32.9% on 3-pointers. Johnson was 74.9% on free throws.

Fantasy owners would love to see Johnson’s shooting percentages also increase, especially because Wembanyama is going to take away some field goal attempts, but Johnson fills out the stat sheet in other ways to avoid being a one-dimensional fantasy player.

His scoring output could drop a bit if Wembanyama settles into the mix of things quickly, but his assist numbers should rise a touch to help offset that. Johnson will still be one of the team’s top scorers and get plenty of chances to keep improving as a scorer.

Johnson has an ADP of 82 in H2H leagues and 98 in category/roto leagues.

Devin Vassell Fantasy Outlook

Vassell also turned in his best season for San Antonio last year. He averaged 18.5 points a game across 31 minutes, but only played 38 games, including 32 starts.

Vassell also averaged 3.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.4 blocks per contest. He shot 43.9% overall, 38.7% on 3-pointers and 78% from the line. 

The youngster would probably be going quite a bit higher in fantasy drafts this year if it weren’t for his knee injury last year. It kept him out for a couple months, and then he also missed time at the end of the season with more discomfort. 

When he’s on the court, there’s no denying he’s a talented all-around player, but the injury just complicates matters. The team might play things safer with Vassell this season, which could mean capping his minutes or holding him out extra games when he’s dealing with any ailments. Hopefully, he’s able to put his injury woes behind him, as he could be a steal for where he’s currently going in drafts.

Vassell has an ADP of 100 in H2H leagues and 75 in category/roto leagues.

Other Spurs to Consider

Zach Collins and Jeremy Sochan are two other Spurs getting late draft consideration. 

Collins played in 63 games, including 26 starts, for the Spurs last season. He averaged 11.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 0.8 blocks and 0.6 steals. He shot 51.8% overall, 37.4% on 3-pointers and 76.1% on free throws.

Collins could start alongside Wemby, or be one of the top options off the bench. His production would probably be a touch better without Wemby next to him, but Collins does enough on the court to still be a fantasy asset even if his points drop.

Sochan is another guy who could start alongside Wemby, although that would force the rookie to matchup with some centers who are well put together, which doesn’t seem like a wide choice seeing Wembanyama’s weight and body type.

Sochan averaged 11 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.6 steals and 0.4 blocks across 26 minutes in his rookie season last year. He played in 56 games, making 53 starts. Sochan shot 45.3% overall, 24.6% on 3-pointers and 69.8% on free throws.

There should still be plenty of minutes to go around for Collins and Sochan to contribute to the team and be solid fantasy assets.

San Antonio is going to need a couple other guys to step up if they plan on being more competitive this season. At this point, none of those players look like they should be drafted, so we’ll skip talking about them and save the write ups for when a player consistently contributes to the team.

Who Should You Draft?

The Spurs will be a fun, young team to watch during the upcoming season. All eyes will be on Wembanyama, but there’s several players on the team who might be viable fantasy assets.

Wembanyama is currently being drafted near the end of the second round in standard leagues. If you have a pick near that, that means you also landed one of the top picks in the draft, so I’m OK if you want to gamble on the rookie near his ADP. However, there’s lots of proven players going right around him, and I’d feel a lot better waiting another round before taking Wemby.

Jones, Johnson and Vassell are all going pretty close to each other in drafts. I’d avoid drafting more than one of them, but think they are all going right about where they should be. If I had to choose a favorite of the trio, I’d go with Johnson. I think Jones is limited because of his 3-point shooting, and Vassell’s knee injury scares me a bit. As mentioned before, I think Vassell could be a steal if he remains healthy all season.

Collins and Sochan are going near the end of drafts, with Collins going about a round ahead of Sochan. Again, I’d avoid taking them in back-to-back rounds. I’d actually prefer to get Sochan a round later. I liked what I saw in his rookie season and think Wemby’s presence will affect Collins’ numbers more negatively.

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