3 Experiments the Spurs must try with Victor Wembanyama out for the season

This past week was a rough one for San Antonio Spurs fans. It was just six days ago we all received the devastating injury update that said Victor Wembanyama would be out for the rest of the 2024-25 season with deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder.

Seemingly before Spurs fans even had a chance to put the dictionary down after looking up the aforementioned term, the news that Gregg Popovich would not return to the sideline this season dropped on Saturday. Just two absolutely brutal updates for this team came back-to-back, and they served to unfortunately put an unofficial end to this season. There is now an extremely little chance San Antonio will have any hope of making it to the postseason.

With that being the case, the final seven weeks of the season serve a much different purpose than they did just a week ago. Before, it was going to be all about watching De'Aaron Fox mesh with Wembanyama, and seeing just how much that duo could achieve together. Now, these are three of the most important things the Spurs should be focusing on instead.

Playing a specific three-guard lineup

There had been questions about the availability of both Chris Paul and De'Aaron Fox moving forward for the rest of the season. Some wondered if CP3 could be a buyout candidate, and many speculated Fox could get his expected offseason surgery on his hand early. But with neither of those situations coming to fruition as of yet, San Antonio should try running Paul and Fox together in a three-guard lineup alongside Stephon Castle. Let CP's brilliant offensive mind dream up ways to use the three of them in conjunction, and you could end up with some fun stuff to use next season.

Employing a small ball lineup with Jeremy Sochan at the five

The name of the game in the final seven weeks of this season is going to be experimentation. We all remember when playing Jeremy Sochan at point guard was an experiment that was attempted, right? Well, now the Spurs might as well try out using him in different ways, like as a small-ball five. See what Sochan can accomplish while guarding opposing bigs and operating on the interior, and you'll continue building a database of information that can be utilized when Wemby is back next season.

Letting Stephon Castle initiate more offense

Finally, San Antonio should seek to tap even more into the skills of their fourth-overall pick from last summer. Stephon Castle has untapped potential, and his offensive game is barely scratching the surface. There is already so much to like about his potential on that end due to his willingness and ability to operate in multiple roles. Keep plugging and placing him in as many places as you can, and watch his talent grow even more.