Wembanyama's injury may force the Spurs to make a tough Chris Paul decision

With the surprising news that San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama is out for the season, the team's priorities will likely shift immediately. For one, the Spurs will likely shift to prioritizing their young players, including Stephon Castle potentially getting big minutes over the remainder of the season.

With the Spurs already being outside of the play-in tournament, they could easily pivot to tanking with their best player now out for the season. That could include having De'Aaron Fox opt to have season-ending surgery on his finger, which he would need anyway and would otherwise have this summer.

They could also agree to waive Chris Paul, giving him a chance to sign with a contender and giving him potentially one last chance to chase a ring. Waving Paul would be a disappointing end to what was shaping up to be a promising season for the Spurs.

Could the San Antonio Spurs and Chris Paul agree to part ways?

If the two sides agreed to mutually part ways, it would give Chris a chance to win a championship by signing with a contender, and would give the Spurs the ability to go in another direction. Without Paul, they could start Fox and Castle together for a few games before shutting Fox down and then giving the keys to Castle to see what he can do as a number one option. To be clear, even though Castle has been on a heater over the last 16 games, averaging 17.3 points, he likely wouldn't be able to carry the Spurs.

That would allow San Antonio to lose games while also giving Castle plenty of opportunities to learn what it takes to be a star in the NBA. Perhaps almost as important would be that it would improve the Spurs' lottery odds, with them conceivably being able to drop down and end up with the seventh pick in the 2025 NBA draft.

If the Atlanta Hawks end up being a lottery team as well, then the Spurs could have two top 10 picks this summer, giving them a chance to build a better roster around Fox, Castle, and Wemby. Ironically, while they were only a fringe potential play-in team, they have dug themselves a hole considering they already have 24 wins. For comparison, the year that they landed the first overall pick to select Wembanyama, they had 22 wins, and last season they also had 22 wins.

Even so, with 29 games remaining, that is still plenty of time to tank and better position themselves for the future. That could begin with the Spurs doing Paul a solid by releasing him.