The San Antonio Spurs have taken a massive leap forward this season and have already found themselves among the serious contenders in a loaded Western Conference. Victor Wembanyama has firmly positioned himself as one of the top 10 players in the league, and he has an excellent young core surrounding him.
However, when you have a guy with Wemby’s stature, injury concerns are always going to be a lingering issue.
Wembanyama has already missed 14 games this season, 36 last season, and 10 in his rookie season. It’s not that uncommon for Wemby to be missing from the Spurs. Even though he’s missed some time this year, the Spurs have still found ways to win when he’s absent. They’re 10-4 over the fourteen games he’s missed, and score six more points a night when he’s subject to the bench.
Nobody would argue that San Antonio is better without Wemby, but they do believe they’ve built a tremendous core of players and seem unwilling to part with any of them. The Spurs need to improve at the power forward position and add more versatility next to Wemby on defense. To make a trade, they have to be willing to part with Stephon Castle or Dylan Harper, and they seem reluctant to that idea.
The Spurs have first-round picks available through 2030, and a ton of second-round picks. They could package those picks, one of their two young guards, and Harrison Barnes to make salaries work, and potentially land Lauri Markkanen or even Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Obviously, trading for Giannis is the real eyebrow-raising move. A frontcourt of Giannis and Wemby is the most versatile big-man combo we’ve ever seen in the league — maybe the best since the Spurs had David Robinson and Tim Duncan playing next to one another.
I don’t want to be pessimistic, but I’m not sure how long you can keep a guy as big as Wemby healthy and able to move as he does. Maybe he defies odds and has a long, prosperous career, but it wouldn’t be something I’d risk my career on as a GM.
The market for Giannis is as low as it will ever be. There are very few teams that can create an enticing package for the Bucks, and I don’t think any team could make a deal as sweet as San Antonio’s. I’m willing to go all in on this combo and see how far it takes you. There aren’t many teams that can guard a freak like Giannis, pairing him with Wemby just feels like a cheat code.
You don’t always want or need to move pieces on a young up-and-coming team, but I think this could be the move to make San Antonio a title contender right now. Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle have shown flashes of being elite players, but how great would they have to be to offset three to five good years of Giannis? I’m not sure they will ever reach those highs. That’s why you have to go all in on Giannis.
