The San Antonio Spurs point guard position has been one of the most intriguing in the league this season. Jeremy Sochan started the year as the team’s starting point guard, a role he was completely new to. Unfortunately, after he admitted some uncomfortably in the role, that experiment ended.
Once the Sochan-at-point-guard era failed in San Antonio, they turned to a group of guys to take over the ball-handling duties. This group included Sochan, Devin Vassell, Tre Jones, and Malaki Branham. The latter of the four, Branham, has been a consistent starter since November 22, coming off the bench just once since that date.
Head coach Gregg Popovich recently spoke about Branham’s growth at the point guard position and the additional responsibilities he’s had to take on.
“It’s a whole new world for him and he’s absorbing it every game, basically trying to figure out the role,” Popovich said via Tom Osborn of the San Antonio Express-News. “It’s a tough role. It’s the most difficult on the court really in some ways. So, he’s been very successful in taking steps each time to understand how he can help the team, with being aggressive, decision-making, all those sorts of things. He’s dealing with all that, been doing well.”
So far this season, Branham is averaging 9.2 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists while shooting 44.1% from the field and 31.8% from behind the three-point line.
At just 20 years old, Branham still has plenty of room to grow, and as one of the Spurs’ lead ball-handlers moving forward, he’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so.
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