The San Antonio Spurs have had only four NBA seasons with less than 30 wins. Among those, three led to drafting first in the following off-season, including last year. However, none of those seasons were lower than 20 wins. As of today, March 21, 2024, the Spurs have only 15 wins and are on track to win 18, which would be a franchise record low. This begs the question: after adding a very talented rookie and with another year of experience for the young core, why is this team losing more than last year?

The organization has admitted that it’s in discovery mode — seeing what they have with young Victor Wembanyama. They’ve also been experimental with both him and the lineups around him, including a shuffling of players as well as positions. All of that is hard enough for any squad, but add to that their youth and inexperience, and it starts to at least make the losses feel more understandable, if not less frustrating.

New Roles

Adding Victor Wembanyama to this Spurs roster brought a forced induction of talent. That much talent so quickly is going to have some ripple effects — meaning new roles for everyone up and down the roster, including the coaching staff.

The team’s top first and second options from last year, Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell, have both seen their usage percentage drop, with Johnson taking a new role in the rotation by moving to the bench. This meant that instead of building on what they developed last season, they and the rest of the returning roster needed to adjust and learn on the fly.

While the introduction of a single player won’t always necessitate a step back, Wembanyama is as far away from a “single player” as any basketball player can be. His never-before-seen collection of talents and attributes is such an anomaly that the team is arguably still in the process of adjusting.

Experimentation

In addition to adjusting, Coach Gregg Popovich and the front office have added to the learning curve that comes with playing with Wembanyama, in the form of experimentation.

Wembanyama entered the NBA as mostly an unknown. No one knew how good he was going to be or how quickly. The organization naturally wanted to see what they had, which meant a few different trial-and-error lineups around him. This included starting him next to center Zach Collins, Jeremy Sochan playing the point, and a different assortment of wings and guards. Sochan playing point guard was the most infamous of these experiments. While it was never intended to be a permanent solution, it had the basketball world pulling its collective hair out. Before the project mercifully ended, Collins went to the bench, and Wembanyama took center. Then Sochan moved back to forward, and Tre Jones reclaimed his starting spot as lead ball handler. That’s a lot to move around in a short period of time.

So much player movement within the lineup can make it hard for a team to maintain the necessary consistency to thrive. The Spurs don’t have a single lineup that has logged more than 800 possessions together, per cleaningtheglass.com. For reference, a stable starting lineup would be over 1500 possessions at this point in the season. For a team so young, it makes it hard to establish the identity, cohesion, and trust needed to play enough to win.

Youth

As a young team, the Spurs have struggled with the common “rookie mistakes.” Those being defense and turnovers. Even Wembanyama, a player likely to get some Defensive Player of the Year votes, has had missed rotations and poor execution as he has learned San Antonio’s system. NBA defensive schemes are difficult, and while Wembanyama is a quick study, defense is a team effort. This means everyone needs to be in proper position all the time, not just one player. So much of that boils down to development which in turn comes with experience and getting more reps on the court; which unfortunately doesn’t immediately turn into wins.

Additionally, turnovers have been a problem for this team going back to last year. They currently rank 24th in turnover percentage and seem to commit them at the most inopportune times. Trying to secure or hold on to a lead becomes that much harder when the opponent is given free possessions. Like the defense, it will come with more time and more consistency playing together.

Looking Ahead

The Spurs have had a rough go of it, no doubt. Circumstances aside, less than 20 wins in a season is a grind. The context makes things a little easier to understand but that doesn’t make it easier. What fans can hope for is another productive offseason. If this season was only a test drive, it’s safe to say they know what their racecar can do. Wembanyama’s basketball IQ is growing steadily and the Spurs have plenty of trade assets to do a little shopping. This season, while not in the books quite yet, will be a good reference point. It’s always a good time to start pushing up the mountain again.