Devin Vassell’s elite skill is suddenly a huge problem for revamped Spurs

After a terrific offseason, the San Antonio Spurs roster looks like it's leveled up. Still, they have some relics from their bad teams. Namely Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell, both of whom are seemingly playing for their future with the team.

Vassell, in particular, has a big question mark surrounding him with a bad 2024-2025 and him being owed $108 million over the next few seasons. He's a bad season away from being a bad contract despite clearly being talented.

Vassell's shot selection has long been a topic of discussion among Spurs fans, with him being able to knock down ridiculously tough shots but clanking open looks. Obviously, being able to hit tough shots is useful, but if that's most of the attempts a player takes, then there's a big problem there. Vassell can't stop taking tough shots—even if he shoots surprisingly well on them.

If he were a star, then being a bad-shot maker would be far more useful, but as the team's clear fourth or even fifth option, they don't need him taking Kobe-esque shots.

Devin Vassell must drastically rework his offensive game

The potential is there for Vassell to be the perfect player this Spurs team needs him to be, and he has the track record to prove it, too. Back in 2023-24, he had the best season of his career, averaging 19.5 points while shooting 54.4% on 2-pointers and 37.2% on 6.6 3-point attempts per game.

He probably won't have the same number of shots he averaged last season, attempting about 15.5 per game. Still, points per game matter less, and his efficiency will be a bigger deal. If he can scale down while returning to his previous shooting numbers, then he'd be a nice offensive fit.

A good number to shoot for (see what I did there) would be him hitting around 38% on 7.0 3-point attempts and hitting at least 50% from two next season. That's well within his wheelhouse, and he actually shot better than those benchmarks in 2022-23.

Vassell could be perfect for what the Spurs need

The Spurs certainly need his shooting, with him and Harrison Barnes being the only good shooters surrounding Victor Wembanyama in the projected starting lineup next season.

We all know Black Falcon can't miss from the corners, but they need Vassell to light it up from outside and scare teams away from helping off him. That seems like a reasonable role for Vassell, not him playing as though he were a borderline star.

All in all, Vassell can't expect to play the same way he did last season and expect that to work. The Spurs are trying to win games, and he'll have to adjust. If he can pare down his offensive game and return to being an uber-efficient low-volume scorer, then San Antonio's biggest question mark will answer a big problem.