Ceiling, floor for San Antonio Spurs: Welcome to the Victor Wembanyama show

San Antonio should be fun to watch this season if nothing else. Nevertheless, a young core consisting of Wemby, Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Jeremy Sochan should keep the Spurs competitive. 

Vassell, who averaged a career-best 18.5 PPG last year, has seen his scoring average increase by at least 6.2 PPG in each of the past two seasons. 

Julian Champagnie should also see an uptick in usage after the former two-way player burst onto the scene over the final five games of 2022-23, averaging 20.0 PPG.  

If Wembanyama can stay healthy, the Spurs should be on the brink of play-in contention. 

Floor: 27-55, another bottom-four finish marred by rookie growing pains 

Despite Wembanyama's arrival, the Spurs did very little this offseason to surround their new franchise cornerstone with additional talent. Beyond Wemby, San Antonio added essentially no new pieces to a team that finished with just 22 wins last season. 

Wembanyama's 7-foot-4 frame should help boost the NBA's worst-rated defense from 2022-23 (119.6). However, the rookie's play on the other end of the court likely won't be enough to single-handedly sky-rocket San Antonio's efficiency. The Spurs averaged the eighth-fewest points (113.0) and posted the second-worst offensive rating (109.7) in the NBA last season. 

Wembanyama will flash as a rookie, but the limited bonafide talent around him will cap San Antonio's ceiling and potentially his production.