{"id":71537,"date":"2024-04-01T19:38:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T23:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=71537"},"modified":"2024-04-01T19:38:10","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T23:38:10","slug":"san-antonio-spurs-lose-2-starters-for-season-due-to-injuries-jeremy-sochan-devin-vassell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/01\/san-antonio-spurs-lose-2-starters-for-season-due-to-injuries-jeremy-sochan-devin-vassell\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio Spurs Lose 2 Starters for Season Due to Injuries"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The San Antonio Spurs will be without two of their starters for the remainder of the season. According to The Athletic&#8217;s Shams Charania, wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/vassede01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-01_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Vassell<\/a> and power forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sochaje01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-01_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeremy Sochan<\/a> are officially done for the year.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Spurs say Devin Vassell (stress reaction in foot) and Jeremy Sochan (ankle surgery) will miss remainder of season.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1774930266559066251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 1, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>San Antonio currently has an 18-57 record, the worst in the Western Conference. With the team having been officially eliminated from playoff contention for a while, all focus now shifts to the next season.<\/p>\n<h2>San Antonio Spurs Lose 2 Starters for Season Due to Injuries<\/h2>\n<h3>Devin Vassell&#8217;s Season<\/h3>\n<p>The fourth-year Vassell was enjoying the best season of his young career before his injury. In 68 games played, the Georgia native averaged a career-high 19.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. Recently, head coach Gregg Popovich talked about <a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/rumor\/2726261\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vassell&#8217;s improvement<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cHe is one of the guys on the team that, all the development things we\u2019ve been doing, you can start to see it,\u201d Popovich said. \u201cHe\u2019s playing better defense. He\u2019s rebounding. He\u2019s becoming aggressive. He\u2019s driving the paint, he\u2019s finding people, he\u2019s shooting the three in transition. He\u2019s really upped his game.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Vassell is one of the best scorers on the team who can do it all. Losing him is a big blow for the team. In his absence, the team will likely rely more heavily on guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/branhma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-01_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Malaki Branham<\/a> and small forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/champju02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-01_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julian Champagnie<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Devin Vassell tonight<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; 31 POINTS<br \/>\n&#8211; 6 assists<br \/>\n&#8211; 4 rebounds<br \/>\n&#8211; 12\/20 FG<br \/>\n&#8211; 4\/8 from deep<\/p>\n<p>\u2728 masterclass \u2728 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Q1b24gT32d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/Q1b24gT32d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Bala \ud83d\udcab (@BalaPattySZN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BalaPattySZN\/status\/1773191892366143657?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>How the Team Will Replace Jeremy Sochan<\/h3>\n<p>Sochan appeared in 74 games for the Spurs this season, starting 73 of them. In those games, the second-year player averaged 11.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game. Like Vassell, Sochan is a versatile player who has become a big part of San Antonio&#8217;s core. Sochan has improved in every aspect of the game since joining the league last year. Additionally, the Baylor alum <a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/rumor\/2689645\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">has a fan in coach Popovich<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cHe\u2019s been great for us and he\u2019s been a two-way player, which are very few and far between in this league,\u201d Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. \u201cHe\u2019s played well at the defensive end, the offensive end. He\u2019s really grown. Nobody would believe he would shoot the three the way he is shooting it now.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>His versatility and defense are going to be tough to replace. Of course, having the likely Rookie of the Year winner <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=,wembavi01&amp;search=Victor+Wembanyama&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-01_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Victor Wembanyama<\/a> on the team makes it much easier. Still, Sochan is an important part of the Spurs&#8217; roster and should continue being one next season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Jeremy Sochan tonight;<\/p>\n<p>28 Points<br \/>\n16 Rebounds<br \/>\n53 FG%<br \/>\nGAME-WINNER. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XHBuqvRDPl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/XHBuqvRDPl<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \ud83c\udfc0 \ud835\udc07\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc28\ud835\udc29 \ud835\udc03\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc32 \ud83c\udfc0 (@HoopDiary) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HoopDiary\/status\/1772448908100202904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word on the San Antonio Spurs Injuries<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/07\/25\/2023-24-nba-power-rankings-offseason-edition-no-28-san-antonio-spurs\/\" target=\"_self\">The Spurs<\/a> have a young and exciting core in large part due to Vassell and Sochan. Losing them for the rest of the season is tough. However, there is a lot to look forward to about this team next season and beyond. With less than two weeks left in the regular season, it will be worth watching how the Spurs do the rest of the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The San Antonio Spurs will be without two of their starters for the remainder of the season. According to The Athletic&#8217;s Shams Charania, wing Devin Vassell and power forward Jeremy Sochan are officially done for the year. Spurs say Devin Vassell (stress reaction in foot) and Jeremy Sochan (ankle surgery) will miss remainder of season. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":71547,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,62,3,34],"tags":[2806,204,4507,3773,4669],"class_list":["post-71537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","category-spurs","tag-devin-vassell","tag-gregg-popovich","tag-jeremy-sochan","tag-malaki-branham","tag-victor-wembanyama"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}