The reinvention of Devin Vassell: Why less is more for the Spurs' overlooked key to title contention

The Spurs have a long history of asking players to sacrifice for the sake of the team. Unlike when Manu Ginobili became their sixth man, though, there's no award for reinventing yourself the way Vassell has. "His game is super versatile," Champagnie said, launching into a string-of-compliments scouting report that included the word "crafty," the phrase "great leader" and the assertion that people don't talk about his defense enough. When you play next to a 7-foot-4 extraterrestrial and a turbocharged three-headed monster, your contributions are often going to go overlooked.

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If Vassell himself is a supernatural being, he is a shapeshifter. "You could probably call him a shooter/scorer, and some people could call him a scorer/shooter," San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said. He said Vassell is the only Spur who fits this description. As evidenced by his 35-point explosion against the Denver Nuggets in a win without Wembanyama and Castle back in November (and two 28-point games since then), Vassell can lean into the scorer side when necessary. On a team stacked with ballhandlers and short on spacing, though, he does most of his damage off the ball.

"I know my game," Vassell said. "And I know I can get to my spot whenever I want to, I know I can get a shot whenever I want to. But for the betterment of the team, sometimes that's not what you need."

The shape of the roster may have diminished Vassell's usage, but it has "also led to him maybe being a bigger part of why we're winning," Johnson said. "So it is a very unique set of circumstances where it feels like both things can't be true, and at the same time it feels like one is actually the reason why the other is true."

An assistant coach until he stepped in for Gregg Popovich last season, Johnson first worked with Vassell as his player development guy. They've had many talks about Vassell's career over the years. All along, Johnson said, Vassell has said he wants to be a "winning player."

Vassell has not merely accepted his role; he has poured himself into it. In offseason workouts last summer, his biggest focus was "being reliable as a shooter," Vassell said. This season, 55% of his shot attempts were from 3-point range (up from 40% in 2023-24), per Cleaning The Glass, and he had the ball in his hands just 10.5% of the time he was on the court (down from 19.5% in 2023-24), per databallr. On a per-possession basis, he drove to the basket less than half as often as he did two seasons ago.

This was "definitely an adjustment," Vassell said. He knew coming in that he'd be in this kind of role. The challenge was figuring out how to be most effective and how to remain aggressive in it. He has to cut and come off screens hard. He has to make quick decisions. He has to be a threat at all times.

"I can't sit there and just be passive when I get the ball or, if I have a shot, turn it down because maybe I didn't have the ball for the past couple of minutes," Vassell said. "I still gotta be ready whenever the ball is thrown my way. It might not be for a shot for me, but to get somebody else an advantage."

A couple of years ago, Vassell and Wembanyama spent a lot of time working on their two-man game. They don't run nearly as many pick-and-rolls anymore, but when Vassell comes off a pindown or a handoff from Wembanyama, the decision tree is similar. "There's been a lot of times where people think I'm going to shoot and I'll throw a lob to him," Vassell said. The chemistry wasn't instantaneous, but "now it's seamless," he said, adding that Wembanyama "makes the game a lot easier" and the two talk "all the time."

At Madison Square Garden, when Vassell was telling me about the signed Jalen Brunson jersey in his locker -- he and Brunson got to know each other when Vassell came to New Jersey in 2020 for predraft training sessions with Brunson's father, Rick -- Wembanyama interrupted to discuss dinner plans.

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For years, Popovich impressed upon Vassell the importance of chasing space. If he's away from the ball, he must be reading the game and ready to relocate. Thanks to Wembanyama and the three devastating downhill drivers, that skill is magnified.

"With [Castle], if they don't come and collapse, playing one-on-one is…" Vassell said, searching for the proper adjective before eschewing one altogether. "Good luck. With Fox and Harper, it's all, 'Good luck.'"

His job, as he sees it, is to make sure the team gets high-quality shots. One virtue of Vassell's situation: He now has teammates who can create easy shots for him. "Compared to the past three years I've been in the NBA, I've had so many wide-open looks," Vassell said. "Like, 'Oh, I'm this open?' That's never happened."

After the All-Star break, he shot 43.5% from 3-point range, and his average seconds and dribbles per touch (2.01, 1.31) dipped to right in between 2014 Danny Green and 2014 Marco Belinelli levels. He has become a true connector, the type of player that could fit right in on the Spurs team that beautifully bludgeoned the Miami Heat in the Finals, and, as the coaching staff has expressed to him, the type of player that makes the 2026 team work.

"Just because I'm not bringing the ball up the court and having the ball in my hands for 15 seconds doesn't mean that I don't still have value to this team," Vassell said. "And that's kind of something that [coaches] Mike [Noyes] and Mitch and Jimmy [Baron] and everybody was just trying to tell me. Because I'm really valuable to this team."

Vassell was the Spurs' highest-drafted rookie since Tim Duncan went first overall in 1997, their reward for their first non-playoff season in 23 years. He started his career during a pandemic: no summer league, an abridged training camp, early-morning COVID testing. "Nothing was regular," he said. "My first game, there was zero fans in the building." San Antonio was between eras -- it was DeMar DeRozan, Patty Mills and Rudy Gay's last year there, LaMarcus Aldridge took a buyout midseason -- and Popovich "was on me from Day 1," Vassell said. "He seen something in me that maybe I didn't even see in myself yet." Popovich expected him to play with physicality on defense and be a shotmaker.

"If I didn't shoot a shot, he'd be like, 'Why didn't you shoot that shot?'" Vassell said. "If I messed up on defense, he's taking me out of the game. Because he wanted me to basically be perfect so I could sit here and be an example for, now, Dylan and Carter and some of the younger guys. So I appreciate him for that. In the moment, I might not have appreciated or said it."

He was mainly a 3-and-D guy at first, but had a good feel for the game and, in Spurs parlance, had gotten over himself. The legendary coach took to him quickly. It is "much easier to coach a player when he has a sense of humor," Popovich said three years ago, "because then you can screw with him, he can give it back to you and you enjoy working together. He's got that."

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Vassell's rookie season ended with a play-in loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. It was the first time the franchise had ever missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons. In the four years that followed, the Spurs went 112-216, including back-to-back 22-win seasons and an 18-game losing streak. The losing bothered Vassell, and the multi-year rebuild tested his patience.

He gradually got stronger and expanded his game, but, until recently, there was always a setback around the corner. In 2023, knee surgery interrupted Vassell's breakout. The next season, he had a stress reaction in his foot, necessitating another surgery. He was still rehabbing when, early last season, Popovich had a stroke and had to step away, eventually transitioning to team president.

"We just told each other we're going to see it through, we're going to continue to see it through," forward Keldon Johnson said. "Whatever we need to do to see it through."

Vassell and Johnson are "damn near best friends," Vassell said. Keldon Johnson described their dynamic as "fire and ice," but insisted that Vassell isn't exactly trying to cool him off: "That's the problem. If I do something crazy, Devin is gassing me up." In terms of navigating the twists and turns of the last six years, though, Vassell has been nothing but a steadying influence.

"Whenever things weren't going so good, he was always there, always encouraging me, always picking me up when I needed and just being a brother," he said.

The four players San Antonio selected in the 2021 and 2022 drafts (Josh Primo, Jeremy Sochan, Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley) were all eventually waived or dumped in a trade. Vassell and Johnson are the only players on today's roster who shared the floor with DeRozan and Aldridge. Champagnie is the only other Spur who predates Wembanyama.

"It's crazy, honestly," Vassell said. "Me and KJ talk about it all the time. Actually, Vic just mentioned something after [going 11-0 in February]. He was like, 'I remember when we were going through a month of not winning a game. And now we're going undefeated.'"

Back when the wins were few and far between, Vassell focused on building good habits, as Popovich preached. "Coach Pop challenged me when I was in my younger years of just embracing The Spurs Way and understanding what it's like to be a Spur," Vassell said. That meant making the extra pass, and it also meant being involved with local charities and getting team functions together. "The Spurs Way isn't just on the court," he said.

Vassell is not as demonstrative as, say, Chris Paul was in San Antonio, and not nearly as experienced. He has been pounding the rock for a while, though, and understands "the fiber of this team and the organization and what we try to continue to sustain," Mitch Johnson said. For all that has changed, he's still getting pointers from Popovich.

"He still texts me to this day after almost every game," Vassell said. "He'll give me feedback and just let me know that he's watching. And, you know, if I need to be more aggressive or if I need to lock in on defense."

One day, when he saw Bryant watching him after practice, Vassell invited the baby-faced rookie to join him. Ever since, this has been a regular occurrence. "He does so much for me," Bryant said. "Whether it's him just being a man, kind of showing me how to grow up in certain aspects of life, or just basketball, he's there for me every day. He hits my line at least once a week." In Brooklyn in February, Bryant shot a kickout 3 in the corner instead of making the extra pass to Vassell, who was wide open on the wing. Vassell let Bryant know about the mistake in the nicest, most supportive way.

"He definitely should have had it," Bryant said. "I shot it, and he was like, 'Yo, swing the one-more. But if you're going to shoot it, shoot it with confidence. Make the shot.'"

Vassell, 25, can hardly believe he's already in Year 6, telling his young teammates about the importance of taking care of their bodies. He described himself as "kind of a vet," but to Bryant, there is no equivocating.

"As much as he's not old, like, he's an old guy," Bryant said. "He's an old guy to guys like me and Dylan. Dylan's 19, I'm 20 years old. He just brings a certain presence to the game. He brings a certain poise. He knows what winning is about."

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Because of their history, Mitch Johnson can be more, um, direct with Vassell than he can with other players. Their conversations can be "unscripted" and "raw" at times, as "there is no trying to earn trust -- we've gotten through that part," Johnson said. And Johnson isn't always the one initiating the discussion.

"We just communicate a lot," Vassell said. "And if I feel like I'm not being involved in the offense or if stuff's getting stagnant, I'll have a conversation with him and just be honest with him."

When you're being asked to carry less of a playmaking load, it helps when your coach says you can let him know if you need a touch. It helps, too, to see results. From Feb. 1 onward, the Spurs were the league's best team, going 30-4 and outscoring opponents by 13.2 points per 100 possessions.

"Obviously, with us as a team and how we're rolling, it would be selfish of me to say, 'Oh, I want the ball more, I want this, I want that' when we're the second team in the West, rolling, on an 11-, 12-game win streak," Vassell said.

In a way, the Vassell story is simple and familiar: To fit in on a team that added a ton of talent, he stepped out of the spotlight and reinvented himself as a sideman. Is it really such a sacrifice, though, if he's happier and having more fun now?

"It's just nice to see when people do try to do what's right for the group," Mitch Johnson said. "Some people would use the word 'sacrifice,' some people say it's what they should do. Regardless, I think there still is a human emotion that it feels good to get a return on that investment, commitment, decision. And he's getting that, and I think he deserves it."

Earlier in Vassell's career, Popovich had to reassure him that it was OK to be a bit selfish. "I always tell him, 'Get your name in the paper. Shoot it. Let people notice,'" Popovich said in 2023, at which point the coach was pleased that Vassell's confidence had improved to the point that he didn't feel "guilty" about calling his own number. Since being a featured part of the offense took some getting used to, maybe it's not all that surprising that he's been so comfortable in a complementary role.

"To be honest, the only time I really had a green light was in high school," Vassell said. "In college, I played at Florida State and we had a loaded team. My first year, I was supposed to redshirt and ended up playing a little bit. Second year, I think I averaged like 12 points or something like that. We had a bunch of players that were just all able to go, all able to play. So I was never in that big spotlight [where I could say], 'Yo, this is just my team.'"

In that he's unequivocally the face of the franchise, the Spurs are Wembanyama's team. He's hardly a ball-dominant player, though, and San Antonio came five Harrison Barnes points away from being the first team in NBA history to finish a season with eight players averaging at least 10 points per game. The Spurs also finished third in the league in hockey assists. This is precisely the type of Spurs team that Vassell always wanted to play for.

"When you look at the Spurs and you think about the Spurs, you think about ball movement and them passing, passing and cutting and doing all that stuff," Vassell said. "There's a lot of possessions that you can look at this year where the ball is moving and people are cutting and there's an extra pass to an extra pass to a lob to a dunk and everybody's selfless. And that's The Spurs Way, truthfully."

These Spurs are much greener than the last iteration that won 60-plus games -- Fox, Barnes and Luke Kornet are their only rotation players with playoff experience -- but nothing about their season suggests they're anything less than a serious contender. In this way, Vassell, the sage pseudo-vet who took this season's smoothest figurative step-back, is as apt an avatar for the team as anybody.

On Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers, San Antonio will open a first-round series at home for the first time since Tony Parker and Ginobili were in the backcourt. Vassell is ready to go, willing to do whatever is asked of him and able to put all of this in perspective.

"I want to go somewhere I've never been before," Vassell said.