Chris Paul will be a “groundbreaker” for the Spurs

July 17, 2024

Highlights

By signing Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes, Spurs’ young core will be strengthened by experienced leaders with the aim of advancing their development.
Chris Paul’s role in San Antonio may mirror his impact with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2019-20 season, as he will bring his experience and competitiveness to the team.
With Paul’s top-notch passing and Wembanyama’s potential, Spurs hope to restore the momentum of a ‘Lob City’ and aim for a much improved and more competitive season.

The San Antonio Spurs last year, showed that they have some incredible young talent in their hands, with 20-year-old Victor Wembanyama Lighting of the NBA during his rookie season in 2023-24.

But one thing was clear from the beginning: they lacked experienced leadership and experience. Fortunately, they were able to Chris Paul as a free agent, who league insider Mark Medina believes will be a real asset to the Texan team.

Experienced veterans complement the young core

Added: Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes

Chris Paul, point guard for the San Antonio Spurs

While the Spurs’ offseason hasn’t been as active as some other teams in the league, the few changes they’ve made so far should help further develop the young core they’ve built over the past few seasons.

Perhaps the Spurs’ most notable acquisition is that of Chris Paul, who became a free agent after being signed by the Golden State Warriors and shortly thereafter he committed to take on a role in player development under the head coach Gregg Popovich instead of chasing a ring in his 20th season in the NBA.

After spending much of last season as a substitute for the Warriors, he is expected to step back into the starting lineup immediately, giving him the opportunity to share the court with players like Victor Wembanyama and rookie guard. Stephon Castle whom the Spurs selected fourth overall in the 2024 draft.

Spurs’ New Veterans – Career Averages
category	Chris Paul (19 seasons)	Harrison Barnes (12 seasons)
PPG	17.5	14.0
APG	9.4	1.8
role playing game	4.5	4.9
FG%	47.1	45.7
3 percent	36.9	37.9

In addition, the Spurs were involved in a three-team deal that included the 2015 NBA champion Harrison Barnes their way to the DeMar DeRozan Sign-and-trade agreement with the Sacramento Kings .

Barnes brings 12 years of experience and has proven he is still a reliable point scorer, averaging 12.2 points per game last season, including shooting 38.7 percent from behind the three-point line.

The Spurs hope their subtle improvements are enough to climb the Western Conference standings after finishing 14th with a record of 22-60, just one game ahead of the rebuilt Portland Trail Blazers .

Paul does “many great things”, Wembanyama is a “sponge”

Medina argues that Paul’s role in San Antonio will be similar to the one he was hired for by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2019–20 season, where he used his experience to develop and improve the game of the younger members of the surrounding squad.

But his impact exceeded all expectations, the Thunder reached the playoffs, and the journalist can’t help but think something similar could happen with this young Spurs group, and even believes his partnership with Wembanyama could produce their own version of “Lob City” that would evoke Paul’s era with the Los Angeles Clippers All those years ago.

“I think we can use Chris Paul’s time in Oklahoma City as a great example. He was traded to Oklahoma City and they thought they were going to be a lottery pick, but in reality they were a team that challenged the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.

The Rockets ended up winning, but it was a tough, competitive seven-game series, so he’s a cornerstone.

Even at his age, he still does a lot of great things when it comes to running the offense. He shows his competitiveness, but he also lets everyone else feel it. And I think that’s the most effective thing with young players.

Victor Wembanyama is soaking it all up, he wants to learn more, and I just can’t help but think about those pick-and-roll opportunities with Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama – there’s going to be Lob City in San Antonio, almost a decade after Chris Paul brought Lob City to the Clippers.”

The return of “Lob City”?

One gets the feeling that Paul could do the same with Wembanyama as he did with Blake Griffin

Paul has proven time and time again that he is the king of assists, and even though he spent most of his time on the bench in his only season with Golden State, that didn’t stop him from leading the team in assists, too: In just 26.4 minutes of playing time, he averaged 6.8 assists per game and scored 17.3 points per game on the team.

He also contributed 9.2 points on 44.1 percent field goal percentage, despite attempting the fewest shots per game of his career at just 8.1 per game.

Chris Paul – Passing Stats 2023-24
category	statistics
PASSES MADE	46.9
PASSES RECEIVED	48.8
POTENTIAL AST	12.9
AST PTS CREATED	17.3
AST TO FIT %	14.4

Medina has previously expressed that he feels that the partnership of Paul and Wembanyama next season could produce another “Lob City” performance like the one that took place in Los Angeles all those years ago, and while Wembanyama is not Blake Griffin there is no doubt that it is much, much better.

Last season, Wembanyama averaged 2.8 points per game as a pick-and-roll player, which corresponded to an effective shooting rate of 58.6 percent. In addition, the Frenchman shot 52.3 percent, which was in the 52.8th percentile.

In Paul’s last season with double-digit assists in the 2021/22 season, when he was with the Phoenix Suns where he averaged 10.8 dimes per night, he scored 8.5 points as a pick-and-roll ball handler—tenth-best in the league this season—on an effective field goal percentage of 55.1%, which ranks in the 83.3rd percentile.

Despite recently turning 39, he still has an excellent passing game and is expected to open up passing lanes to Wembanyama so he can do what he does best: use his size to get to the basket and score. There, he averaged 21.4 points (rookie-best) and 3.6 blocks (league-best), earning him a spot as a finalist for the 2023-24 Defensive Player of the Year award.

While the Paul-Wembanyama partnership has yet to be put into action on the court, there is a wave of optimism about what is possible and who knows, perhaps with Paul’s influence in the dressing room they could shoot up the Western Conference table next season… although that may be too ambitious at this stage.

Still, Spurs fans can look forward to the future. This could be the year they make a massive leap and leave behind the years of mediocrity that have plagued them since their title-winning days.

All stats courtesy of Statmuse, ESPN, NBA.com and Basketball Reference.