2 obvious and 1 subtle thing Devin Vassell must do to become an all-star

Subtle thing: Regain defensive form

As Vassell has gotten better as an offensive player, his defense has slipped. That almost always happens in the NBA, but the Spurs will need him to get back to where he was as a team defender to maximize both his and their potential.

During his second season, he allowed opponents to shoot 47.9% from the field. However, over his last two seasons, his defensive field goal percentage jumped to 51.9% last season and is down to 50.1% this season.

That follows a similar trend when examining his defensive rating over the first four seasons of his career. As a rookie, he had just a 108.9 rating, followed by 110.2 in his sophomore year, 118.8 last year, and back down to 114.8 this season. Some of his struggles last season can be attributed to playing in random lineups that often had little to no experience playing together.

This season, there has been more lineup stability, and Vassell has played significant minutes with Wembanyama. That has definitely helped, but those advanced stats seemingly confirm what many Spurs fans have observed over the last couple of seasons: he isn't the same defensive player that he was.

Going forward, as Wembanyama improves on that end and begins to log big minutes consistently, Vassell's effectiveness should also improve with Wemby there to deter opponents from driving to the basket. Still, Vassell will need improvement to the mean to reach an all-star level.