Spurs Announce Two Key Players Out For Rest of Season

The San Antonio Spurs are going to be short-handed for the remainder of the 2023-24 NBA regular season. It was announced this week that two of their key rotation players are going to be sidelined because of injuries suffered recently.

Devin Vassell sat out the team’s 117-113 loss to the Golden State Warriors on Sunday and an MRI on Monday revealed the injury. Vassell is dealing with a stress reaction to the third metatarsal head in his right foot, which will end his season prematurely.

It is a tough blow for the Spurs and Vassell, who was in the midst of his best season to this point in his NBA career. This is the most efficient shooting season he has had, leading to a career-best 19.5 points per game. He reached the 30-point plateau six times this season after not doing it once in his first two seasons in the NBA. 

His 4.1 assists were also a career-high, as he was developing excellent chemistry with Victor Wembanyama. Vassell handed out 87 assists to the rookie phenom this season, which was second on the team behind point guard Tre Jones. Wembanyama also found Vassell for 50 assists, the most he handed out to a teammate.

Joining Vassell on the sidelines for the remainder of the season will be Jeremy Sochan. Sochan, who had played in all 74 games before also sitting out against the Warriors, was originally injured on Friday night when playing against the New York Knicks.

He injured his left ankle and met with experts outside the organization to figure out a course of action. It was determined that arthroscopic surgery would be the best approach, ending his second season in the NBA.

The 2023-24 campaign was an interesting one for Sochan. Despite being a 6’9” power forward, he was the team’s starting point guard out of the gate but moved into a more traditional role with the team 20 games into the season.

Sochan showed improvement with his shooting, knocking down 70 3-pointers after having only 33 as a rookie and improving his free throw percentage to 77.1 percent. He also upped his rebounding and assist numbers and is prime to truly break out in Year 3 if his shooting improvements continue.