3 Spurs who must step up with Devin Vassell out of commission

2.) Tre Jones

Fourth-year guard Tre Jones has played a surprisingly large role to start the season despite coming off the bench. In fact, behind Wembanyama and Vassell, he has clearly been the Spurs' third-best player. With Jones on the floor, the team plays much faster thanks to Jones constantly looking to push the pace and his willingness to throw hit-ahead passes.

Wembanyama happens to leak out on defensive possessions when defending on the perimeter, making Jones the perfect guard to find him in transition. Even in the half court, he is clearly the team's best lob thrower, which normally wouldn't be such a big deal but with Wembanyama able to catch anything within a 5-mile radius of the basket, it's an incredibly efficient way to get him easy baskets.

Having Jones start at point guard and nominally moving Jeremy Sochan to shooting guard would give Popovich the chance to see how the Spurs starting lineup could look with an experienced playmaker. Based on early results, there is a good chance that that lineup could perform well with Wembanyama getting several easy baskets thanks to Jones, helping them offset some of Vassell's lost production.

Jones has also been more effective shooting the ball this season, drilling 38.4% from three and shooting much better from 3–10 feet thanks to regaining his touch on floaters. With Jones being passable again as a scoring threat and being far and away the best playmaker on the Spurs, he should get more playing time with Vassell out.