4 Trade deadline moves that would boost Spurs, 2 they must avoid

The 2023-24 season has been far from smooth sailing for the San Antonio Spurs. After landing the number one overall pick in last year's draft and selecting one of the most talented prospects in many years in Victor Wembanyama, all the stars seemed to be aligning for this franchise once again.

Many were so blown away by Victor's individual talent that they assumed he alone would be able to lift this team out of the mud and make them a playoff threat once again from day one. But as we have seen, that is far from the case. There is still much work to be done in San Antonio before this team returns to its former glory.

Some glaring issues have cropped up for the Spurs this season, and they currently sit in last place in the Western Conference because of them. While there should not be any reasonable expectation of making some sort of cinderella run to the play-in this season, San Antonio needs to keep improving to have a chance of competing in later years.

To do that, they will likely be keeping their eyes peeled as the trade deadline approaches. There are a few moves they can make that would undoubtedly give them a boost, while others, while tempting, should be avoided.

Boost: Find a point guard

The most talked-about issue facing the Spurs this season has been point guard play. To begin the year, Head Coach Gregg Popovich decided to appoint Jeremy Sochan the team's floor general, an experimental decision that ended up making less sense in practice than it did in theory.

Sochan, a good player that can make better passes than many would think for his size, is still not a true point guard in this league. The failure of the "point Sochan" experiment made it all the more obvious that the Spurs have a glaring hole at that position.

Tre Jones has been an upgrade over Sochan as a distributor, but he is probably still best served as a backup. The Spurs do not necessarily need to find their long-term point guard solution at the deadline, but finding more talent at the position would raise this group's ceiling.

Avoid: Giving up picks for a questionable player

One of the shining successes of the Spurs organization's efforts in the last several years is General Manager Brian Wright's savvy in orchestrating deals that net San Antonio draft compensation. When the time was right, San Antonio's management put together trades for players like Derrick White, Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poeltl that netted the Spurs first-round picks in return.

The result is what has become an absolute treasure trove of draft picks from now until the end of the decade. San Antonio owns a stunning 15 first round picks between 2024 and 2030. This represents a massive success by the front office to compile assets that give the team significant leverage for future dealings.

The next step, of course, is to make sure those picks are used wisely. Yes, 15 first rounders in a span of seven seasons is enough to make anyone's jaw hit the floor, but they mean nothing if they are not utilized correctly to ultimately build a winning team in San Antonio.

The Spurs should be wary of biting on a deal simply because it is there, and not because they believe it will legitimately help them in the long term. A good rule of thumb is that a first-rounder should not be sacrificed for anything less than an All-Star caliber player.

Boost: Improve offensive rebounding

One statistical area the Spurs have struggled in during the 2023-24 season is offensive rebounding. They have done a solid job of rebounding their opponent's misses and rank 13th in the league for defensive rebounding. But they struggle to clean up their own misses, ranking 24th as one of just seven NBA teams to average less than 10 offensive rebounds per game.

Those less familiar with this team might wonder how this is possible when they employ a 7-foot-4 behemoth who can theoretically grab a rebound over anyone in the association. But Victor Wembanyama is far from the problem. He is pulling in 2.1 offensive rebounds per game for the season, a fine number for a rookie who has played at power forward rather than center for much of the year.

The Spurs would benefit greatly from adding someone at the trade deadline who can help in the offensive rebounding department. Their offense currently ranks 25th in the NBA shooting percentage-wise at just 46%. If they are to get back on the right track and start winning games again, they will need to give themselves some second chances at scoring the ball.

Day'Ron Sharpe and Daniel Gafford are two of the most gettable players at the deadline that are also superior offensive rebounders.

Avoid: Becoming sellers for the wrong price

Sitting at the bottom of the Western Conference, San Antonio is far from being a true playoff contender anytime soon. With that being said, they have their centerpiece player with which to build a roster around in the coming years. Victor Wembanyama has made it clear how much he cares about winning, and the Spurs will be doing everything they can to accommodate him with players that complement him.

What that means is that few players, if any at all, on this roster can truly be labeled as untouchable outside of Wemby. Jeremy Sochan, Keldon Johnson and even Devin Vassell should all be gettable in potential trades for the right price. The key caveat here is the right price.

The Spurs should not be hesitant to offload one of their best supporting players to Wembanyama, but only if the return will yield a greater long-term result. This may seem like an obvious statement, but it bears repeating given how younger talent can sometimes be overvalued.

Selling high has been a strength of Spurs management in recent years. When San Antonio dealt Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poeltl, they got back significant return for players they deemed had likely hit their peaks. Results since those trades would indicate they made a wise choice. Continuing to have sound judgement and choosing carefully who to move will be paramount for San Antonio.

Boost: Acquire draft capital

We have already discussed the immense collection of draft picks that currently belong to the Spurs. The team owns 15 first round picks and 34 total picks in the next seven drafts, an absolutely astonishing collection. But in a league as cutthroat and unfavorable to small market teams as the NBA, there is no sense in becoming complacent.

As much as they reasonably can, San Antonio should be looking to continue stacking draft picks leading up to this trade deadline. The idea being that these assets will help them get ahead going forward more than nearly any other factor.

If we want the blueprint for how a small market team should compile and correctly utilize draft picks, we should look no further than the Oklahoma City Thunder. General Manager Sam Presti built a reputation for being unafraid to sell high on certain players and take on bad contracts from other teams in order to take back draft picks.

Building up a huge collection of picks was a big part of what allowed Presti to build Oklahoma City into the top-seeded championship contender it is today. Continuing to bring in more picks that can be used to acquire high-level talent down the road will be vital, as we know San Antonio is far from a premium free agent destination.

Boost: Add more three-point shooting

We are living in the era of the three-pointer in the NBA. Shots from beyond the arc have increased exponentially across the league for the last decade, with no sign of slowing down any time soon.

We know that simply trying to outgun opponents with high-octane three-point shooting and forgetting about defense and other aspects of the game will never be a winning method, but being able to knock down threes to generate offense is still important. Right now, the Spurs are one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the NBA, making just 34.5% of their shots from outside.

Only the Grizzlies and Magic hold worse percentages for the season. The league average for three-point percentage in 2023-24 is 36.7%, which is tied for the highest all-time. Teams are taking and making threes at quite literally a higher rate than ever.

San Antonio has a few elite shooters like Doug McDermott, who is shooting north of 44% from behind the arc this year. But by and large, their roster is more devoid of sharpshooters than the majority of the NBA. If an opportunity presents itself, the Spurs would do well to pick up a player or two who can improve their floor spacing and their subpar three-point percentage.