Will the Spurs be on the hunt this summer for a co-star to put next to Victor Wembanyama?

NBA insider Brian Windhorst with Spurs center Victor Wembanyama and Trae Young

While the 2024 NBA Playoffs are under way and in full effect, the 24/7, 365 nature of the NBA news cycle means that it’s always worth keeping an eye on the potential happenings of the NBA offseason. Two teams that could be at the forefront of the minds of NBA fans are the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks.

The Spurs feature soon-to-be Rookie of the Year winner Victor Wembanyama, automatically making them one of the most interesting teams in the NBA for as long as Wemby is in San Antonio. And because of the way the Hawks’ season ended, finishing under .500 and missing out on the NBA Playoffs, Atlanta has already been pegged as a team to watch this summer.

The prevailing belief around the league is that the two-year partnership of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray will soon come to an end. Since acquiring Murray from the San Antonio Spurs, the Hawks are 77-87, a tremendously disappointing mark for a team that was in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2021.

This could lead to a scenario where the Hawks look to move on from one or both of their starting guards, providing a possible solution for a prophecy laid out by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst today on the Pat McAfee Show regarding Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs.

“I predict that a star player is gonna look at what’s going on with the Spurs and say get me there.. I don’t think it’s gonna be LeBron but Trae Young is an interesting name” @WindhorstESPN #PMSLive

Pat McAfee first suggested Damian Lillard as a potential Victor Wembanyama sidekick, which Windhorst immediately shot down, but when McAfee pivoted to Trae Young, Windy’s interested seemed to be fully piqued.

“Now that’s an interesting name,” Windhorst said slyly.

A trade that I proposed between the Spurs and Hawks earlier this month resulted in Trae Young heading to San Antonio in exchange for Keldon Johnson, Devonte Graham, and Atlanta’s 1st Round picks in 2025 and 2027, which the Spurs own thanks to the trade these two teams made involving Dejounte Murray back in 2022. This is what I wrote regarding Trae Young’s potential fit in San Antonio:

“Offensively, a hypothetical Victor Wembanyama/Trae Young partnership would be dazzling, with Young throwing lord knows how many lobs to Wemby each game. And with Wemby protecting the paint behind Trae Young, Young’s defensive limitations may not be as crippling. In time, Victor Wembanyama will be a top five defense all by himself, no matter who else you put around him.”

That time may be right now. Wembanyama led the league in blocks by a wide margin and opponents shot only 53 percent at the basket when Wemby defended the shot, one of the best marks in the league. And then there’s this: the Spurs gave up 11.5 more points per 100 possessions with Victor Wembanyama off the floor than they were with him on the floor. Wembanyama’s defensive rating for the season was 106, just a shade off of Rudy Gobert’s mark of 104.

It remains to be seen how aggressive the Spurs will be in putting a potential contender around Victor Wembanyama. Given how quickly Wemby adapted to the NBA, not only surviving but truly thriving in his first season in the league, you could make the case that San Antonio should be looking to upgrade across the entire roster as soon as possible in order to maximize each and every season Wembanyama spends in a Spurs uniform.