With everyone in San Antonio healthy (including himself), Devin Vassell now gets to slip back into the offensive role his game was tailored for: a versatile off-ball scorer who can create space for the Spurs dynamic playmakers to operate pic.twitter.com/q1qsAIwNpS

— Point Made Basketball (@pointmadebball) December 20, 2025

Spurs Win
Hawks Lose
Thunder Lose

SGA FOR THE TIE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yAzddUtbzk

— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) December 20, 2025

Guitarsoup said:

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Spurs Win
Hawks Lose
Thunder Lose

SGA FOR THE TIE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yAzddUtbzk

— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) December 20, 2025

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That's crazy after their coach got tossed like 5 minutes into the game. He was only doing what every non-Thunder fan wants to do.

The last 3 guards to average 18/5/5 on 50% shooting at 21 or younger:
1.Magic Johnson
2.Michael Jordan
3.Stephon Castle#PorVida pic.twitter.com/ZMSCglkBZK

— Dan Weiss (@DanWeissPBP) December 19, 2025

Is that good?

The Spurs are favored by 16.5 tonight in Washington.

Marvin Bagley III & Jamir Watkins are QUESTIONABLE to play.

Sarr, Coulibaly, Cooper, Johnson, Kispert, Middleton, & Whitmore are all OUT.

Wizards are on the 2nd night of a back-to-back too.

— Paul Garcia (@PaulGarciaNBA) December 21, 2025

Washington throwing in the towel here.

Guitarsoup said:

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New 2nd place team in the West.

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If, and I know it's a big IF, we can go 2-0 against the Thunder this week then we do ourselves a ton of favors. I expect 1-1, but the Thunder haven't looked great against teams with a pulse lately.

Spurs have signed 6-6 wing Stanley Umude to a two-way deal after waiving Kyle Mangas.
 
The San Antonio Warren alumnus appeared in 11 games with the Austin Spurs after participating in training camp with the Spurs.
 
He’s expected to be with the club for the rest of the season.

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) December 21, 2025

Guitarsoup said:

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Spurs have signed 6-6 wing Stanley Umude to a two-way deal after waiving Kyle Mangas.
 
The San Antonio Warren alumnus appeared in 11 games with the Austin Spurs after participating in training camp with the Spurs.
 
He’s expected to be with the club for the rest of the season.

— Tom Orsborn (@tom_orsborn) December 21, 2025

---

Kyle, we hardly knew ya'. I mean, literally.

Bulls bricked 4 FTs in the last minute trying to give the game away, but Trae Young got the ball on the last possession and decided to flop for a call instead of make the shot.

TRAE YOUNG FOR THE WIN 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/NRxf1kPSyM

— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) December 21, 2025

Hawks lose by two.

Bulls had 11 players in double digits.

152-150 in a non-overtime game is wild.

Guitarsoup said:

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Bulls bricked 4 FTs in the last minute trying to give the game away, but Trae Young got the ball on the last possession and decided to flop for a call instead of make the shot.

TRAE YOUNG FOR THE WIN 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/NRxf1kPSyM

— NBACentel (@TheNBACentel) December 21, 2025

Hawks lose by two.

Bulls had 11 players in double digits.

152-150 in a non-overtime game is wild.

---

I don't know why I find the trend of twitter posts like this so hilarious.

Harrison Barnes made a 3!

LawHall88 said:

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Harrison Barnes made a 3!

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Mr. 100%.

Made a 3 in 100% of his last two games.

Wemby got his block. 101 straight games.

Glad Devin's having a down game against these bums, not in a game we need him.

Nice of the Wizards to put the San Jacinto Monument on the court for us.

The Hawks have given up in their last five games (all regulation):

152 to the Bulls
126 to the Spurs
133 to the Hornets
117 to the Sixers
142 to the Pistons

All but the Spurs shot over 40% from three. Time to ring some alarm bells over how listless this defense looks.

— Wes (@bloghawk) December 21, 2025

Their upcoming schedule is brutal.

Bulls
Heat
Knicks B2B
@ Thunder
Wolves
@Knicks
@Raptors B2B
@ Raptors

Guitarsoup said:

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Wemby got his block. 101 straight games.

Glad Devin's having a down game against these bums, not in a game we need him.

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We have so many scorers that I'm not worried when one has an off game.

Victor Wembanyama’s playmaking and height is a cheat code when it comes to running the offense through him at the elbow

He can see over the entire defense and it’s only bolstered by how many good slashers San Antonio has pic.twitter.com/knNNVj3gDF

— Point Made Basketball (@pointmadebball) December 22, 2025

Steph Castle has to be one of the best in-game dunkers in the league right now pic.twitter.com/njLmdDBwMY

— Point Made Basketball (@pointmadebball) December 22, 2025

Keldon Johnson deserves 6MOTY, he’s been absolutely incredible!! pic.twitter.com/X8u6CrIRMo

— PJ Hoops (@RealPjHoops) December 21, 2025

Gotta turn it back up in the 4th. Wizards went hot.

Average Joe said:

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Gotta turn it back up in the 4th. Wizards went hot.

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Luke Kornet Coast to Coast baby!

Guitarsoup said:

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Average Joe said:

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Gotta turn it back up in the 4th. Wizards went hot.

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Luke Kornet Coast to Coast baby!

---

I was going to post about that but it took 5 minutes to stop laughing.

Houston just lost to a Sacramento team that's missing Sabonis and ZachLavine and just got 4 minutes from Malik Monk.

Enzo The Baker said:

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Spurs facing the thunder in their second night of a B2B tomorrow. It would be nice to get a split these next two games.

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OKC has the late game against Memphis then flies to SA for our first game against them. Hope JJJ can keep it close, but they dont have Ja or Clarke or Edey or Jerome or Pippen. Oof.

Also, Wemby left the stadium early last night and some rumors he may be flying back to France for his grandmother's funeral. Not sure if he will be even back for the game on Wednesday.

First 15 games: 9-6
DRTG: 8th

Last 15 games: 6-9
DRTG: 25th https://t.co/Hq5BC7tIF1

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) December 22, 2025

Come on Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson. Hawks pick is gonna get there.

Guitarsoup said:

---

Enzo The Baker said:

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Spurs facing the thunder in their second night of a B2B tomorrow. It would be nice to get a split these next two games.

---

OKC has the late game against Memphis then flies to SA for our first game against them. Hope JJJ can keep it close, but they dont have Ja or Clarke or Edey or Jerome or Pippen. Oof.

Also, Wemby left the stadium early last night and some rumors he may be flying back to France for his grandmother's funeral. Not sure if he will be even back for the game on Wednesday.

---

This would make a lot of sense timing wise. Doubt he's back to SA until the weekend. Bummer for many reasons.

From the Athletic

Guitarsoup said:

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First 15 games: 9-6
DRTG: 8th

Last 15 games: 6-9
DRTG: 25th https://t.co/Hq5BC7tIF1

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) December 22, 2025

Come on Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson. Hawks pick is gonna get there.

---

My conspiracy theory mind says the NBA will make sure the Hawks pick is top 3 this year because they have a vested interest in not letting the Thunder dynasty get out of hand. They need and want a balancing power and the Spurs are best positioned to do that.

AggieEP said:

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Guitarsoup said:

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First 15 games: 9-6
DRTG: 8th

Last 15 games: 6-9
DRTG: 25th https://t.co/Hq5BC7tIF1

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) December 22, 2025

Come on Cameron Boozer or Caleb Wilson. Hawks pick is gonna get there.

---

My conspiracy theory mind says the NBA will make sure the Hawks pick is top 3 this year because they have a vested interest in not letting the Thunder dynasty get out of hand. They need and want a balancing power and the Spurs are best positioned to do that.

---

That would be so wild. Even getting just the 4th pick and getting Caleb Wilson from UNC would be wild. He doesn't have the 3pt shot we would ideally want (low volume .286) and doesn't have the thiccness that Boozer has, but he would be a monster.




OKC will make some hard choices this summer. They have 1 FA (Dieng) but a few team options (Dort, Hartenstein) and all their players are easily tradable. If they just use one of their picks and trade the others for future picks, their cap number will be like 240M with about 240M in taxes. Are their owners going to be ok with spending half a billion dollars next year on their roster?

Only six teams have paid $240M cumulatively in taxes and only three teams have paid over $100M in taxes in a single year (PHX last year, Clippers in 22 and 23, and Warriors in 21-23.) No team has ever gone over the 176M in taxes that the Warriors paid in 2023.

The most the Thunder ever paid in tax was $63M in the PG13/Westbrook/Melo year and they have paid 106M for their history. Remember they traded Harden over paying him an extra million or two to avoid the tax. OKC has paid the tax in 5 season, two seasons of less than 3M, one less than 15M, a 25M and that 63M.

The piper is coming this summer. And then next Summer SGA's supermax hits the books at 35% of the cap.

If the Hawks pick stays mid (which is expected from Midlanta) my favorite guy is Yaxel Lendeborg from Michigan. The negative on him is he is old. Older than Paolo Banchero.

He went to the Combine last year so we know about what he is. 6'8.5" barefoot with 7'4 wingspan at 235lbs. 9'1 standing reach. 32" vertical. His lane agility/sprint stuff was all mid-though.

He's shooting 59/40/86 for Michigan this year with 16p 7r with 4 assists and 1.5b and 1.5s. He's my guy for now.

So what is our most idealistic version of the perfect player archetype to pair with Wemby, based upon our current roster?

Is there a beefy, athletic 4 man with a 3 point stroke? I'd love to have a strong body that can bang down low and space the floor. That would save Wemby's body in certain matchups and allow him to roam more. Basically a younger Harrison Barnes with a little more prototypical 4 size.

Obviously you can never have enough 3 and D guys, but they'll fit in with anyone. I'm trying to think of what that 3rd/4th wheel (depending on Harper and Castle's development) would look like.

CC09LawAg said:

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So what is our most idealistic version of the perfect player archetype to pair with Wemby, based upon our current roster?

Is there a beefy, athletic 4 man with a 3 point stroke? I'd love to have a strong body that can bang down low and space the floor. That would save Wemby's body in certain matchups and allow him to roam more. Basically a younger Harrison Barnes with a little more prototypical 4 size.

Obviously you can never have enough 3 and D guys, but they'll fit in with anyone. I'm trying to think of what that 3rd/4th wheel (depending on Harper and Castle's development) would look like.

---

Yeah, I think you want a strong 3&D guy. Aaron Gordon if I could just pick a non-star player and can overrule the other team on 2k.

In the draft last year myself and a lot of other peopled liked Rasheer Fleming and he was mocked in the Lottery before falling to the 2nd round to PHX. He is 6'9 240lbs and played really good defense inside and on the perimeter while shooting 54/39. But maybe all that was fools gold because he played for a small school. But that's kind of the guy I would like.

Theoretical Healthy 2024 Jonathan Issac? Shot 38% from three. Maybe the best PF defender in the league.. for about 10 minutes a game and 25 games a year.

If we are looking at role players, not star forwards (Scottie Barnes, Jalen Johnson, Giannis, etc) I think:

PJ Washington works, but he is smaller than ideal. Career 36% 3pt shooter, 15/8 guy last two years.

OG Anunoby, is too expensive

Jabari Smith, but he's perfect on Houston and just got his extension (about 13% of cap)

Toumani Camara if his shooting last year was real.

Tari Eason if he could play over 50 games a year. Rockets can't really afford to keep him and he has the injury issues. Wonder if he could be had for the MLE. But he's a 20-25mpg guy max.

This is my weird one: BeefStew. He plays PF/C and is hitting 40% of his threes. Having him as a PF against bigger teams and C against smaller teams, plus can get out of the way of Wemby on offense and hit threes. Plus then you have a guy that can muscle up against the Mitchell Robinsons or Jokers and will make sure that no one is cheap shotting Wemby or the guards. Detroit likes him, but if they make a deal for AD or Sabonis, he becomes expendable and we can match his salary with just Olynyk. I like having a junkyard dog kind of guy on the team and Antoinne Carr is too old. I want some size and heft on this team.

Victor Wembanyama listed as questionable against the Thunder, left calf injury management pic.twitter.com/2yFZJvhDPU

— Tom Petrini (@RealTomPetrini) December 22, 2025

I like all of those - I think someone who could play 4/5 was more important until we lucked out with Kornet, since our backup 5 situation was awful. But having someone who can do it and pair well with both Wemby and Kornet will give us great lineup flexibility.

If you could give me an Aaron Gordon clone that offer 70% of what he can do, that is who I would want. Can guard 3/4 well, can be a 5 in small ball lineups, great cutter, can put it on the floor, credible 3 point shooter...

But those guys are hard to find. Definitely going to have to either draft one and develop them or do exactly what happened with Gordon and find a player that is maybe being stretched too far in a role on a losing team and reduce them to be a superstud role player.