The San Antonio Spurs have risen a spot from No. 25 to No. 24 in the final Bleacher Report weekly NBA power ranking of the 2023-24 season. Andy Bailey’s latest and final assessment on the status quo of the Association has the Spurs on the upswing to close out French rookie phenom Victor Wembanyama’s first season in the league with San Antonio.
“He went 9-of-29 from the field, and the … Spurs lost, but … Wembanyama gave us another potential glimpse into the future in Tuesday’s matchup against Nikola Jokic,” writes Bailey. “Against the consensus best player in the world, the rookie finished 1 block and 2 assists shy of a quadruple-double.”
“And he pushed the reigning champs all the way to the final buzzer,” adds the B/R league analyst. “Massive stat lines and more competitive finishes aren’t some new development, either.”
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“Since their last game in February, Wembanyama has averaged 23.5 points, 12.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 4.3 blocks, 2.2 3s and 1.2 steals,” notes Bailey. “And over that stretch, San Antonio’s net rating is minus-1.2. Not great, but certainly much better than the minus-8.5 the Spurs had before then.”
The season may be nearly over, but even with as rough of a start as we saw in its outset, it’s hard to look at the growth of Wemby as anything other than an unmitigated success. As for the rest of the players on the roster, well — that is not a this-season problem, truthfully.
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