"What's wrong with the Spurs?" That's the question everyone is asking after their ugly two-game skid, and the answer is pretty straightforward. They need a point guard. Watching the game last night, it was difficult for the offense to get a real rhythm. Now that they're playing better teams with more experience, their lack of a floor general has caught up with them, exposing their weakness.
Wemby's efficiency last season w/o a PG on the floor:
.403 FG%, .512 TS%
Since the Mavs game, Wemby this season w/o a PG: .438 FG%, .500 TS%
meanwhile...
Wemby last season w/ Chris Paul: .493 FG%, .608 TS%
Wemby w/ Dylan Harper: .533 FG%, .679 TS%
It's that simple.
— Spurs Stats & Video (@spursstatsvideo) November 6, 2025
Victor Wembanyama is the head of the snake, and teams are attacking him. Opponents have begun to send quick double-teams at him, and they're muddying the passing lanes, so if he's over-aggressive, he risks turning the ball over. As a result, he's been hesitant on the floor, and it's because he's once again working too hard for all of his shots. It's made the offense tough to watch at times.
Watching it has made the need for their speedy point guard glaring. Anyone who ever considered the thought of San Antonio trading away De'Aaron Fox should apologize to the masses for putting such tomfoolery out there.
Getting Fox back will solve many of the Spurs' problems
It'll be much harder to shade toward Vic when Fox is on the ball because he'll run right by you into the lane and compromise your defense in other ways. You have to account for him in different ways than you do for any other ball handler on this team because he's a proven 20+ point-per-game scorer, and he's a better playmaker than he's been given credit for lately.
During the Lakers' game, there were flashes of Wembanyama's rookie season when the players on the floor struggled to get the ball to him in advantageous positions. He's a 7'5" big man with limbs longer than a four-day weekend, but that only makes it more difficult to maneuver when you're crowded.
It's why Nikola Jokic, Shaq, Tim Duncan, etc., were all better with a good point guard on the floor. No matter how skilled you are as a big man, the fact that you're so large makes you a target for smaller defenders to poke at you, making the game uncomfortable. When you have a player like Fox on the floor, he can use his speed to take advantage of angles that others can't and make Vic's job easier.
Swipa also brings the added benefit of being a skilled closer to the team. That was an ugly game last night. There were a million things that went wrong. However, the game was there for the taking at the end of the fourth quarter, and the Lakers finished where the Spurs couldn't.
After Wemby was fouled out of the game, I don't think anyone was surprised that it went that way. If Fox were there, the team would have a significantly stronger chance to pull it out. That's what he does, and it's why he won the very first Clutch Player of the Year in 2023. The Spurs are now 3-1 in clutch situations, but 4-0 would have sounded much better, don't you think?