San Antonio Spurs 2024-25 fantasy basketball season recap: Future is bright in Alamo City

NBC Sports

01-05-2025

While the NBA Playoffs are in full swing, now is a good time to recap the fantasy basketball season for all 30 teams.
In the following weeks, we will provide a recap for each team, starting with the team with the worst record and concluding with the NBA champion in June.
Next up in the series are the San Antonio Spurs. Key injuries have been a theme among the bottom teams, but the Spurs boast one of the most encouraging outlooks in the Association heading into next season.
San Antonio Spurs 2024-2025 Season Recap
Record: 34-48 (13th, West)
Offensive Rating: 113.5 (19th)
Defensive Rating: 116.3 (25th)
Net Rating: -2.8 (22nd)
Pace: 100.08 (13th)
2025 NBA Draft Picks: 6.6 percent chance of winning the lottery via their own pick and an unprotected pick owed to them from the Hawks via the Dejounte Murray trade; Pick No. 38
Don't let the 13th seed in the West trick you into thinking the Spurs weren't a wildly improved team in 2024-25. San Antonio's win total improved from 22 wins in each of the last two seasons to 34. The win total is tied for the best mark over the last six seasons, and the Spurs are on the rise.
San Antonio went 21-25 with Victor Wembanyama available and just 13-23 without him. Losing Wemby after the break and losing De'Aaron Fox for the end of the campaign certainly hurt the team's record, and the Spurs could have easily been a .500 team with Wemby and Fox available.
Number four pick Steph Castle won Rookie of the Year, joining Wemby as back-to-back winners on the same team. Castle came on strong to end the campaign, and the Spurs now sport a strong young core featuring Castle, Wemby and Fox, with an excellent fourth option in Devin Vassell.
With plenty of cap space to address some needs (most glaringly in the front court), the Spurs are locked and loaded to take the next step in 2025-26 and compete as a legitimate playoff threat in the loaded Western Conference.
Let's recap last season's fantasy performances and look ahead to 2025-26.
Fantasy Standout: Victor Wembanyama
Surprise, surprise. If anyone could dethrone Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as fantasy's top player, it had to be Wemby. The second-year man has apparently never heard of a sophomore slump as he averaged 24.3 points, 11 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals, 3.1 triples and 3.8 swats.
For the second straight season, he comfortably led the NBA in blocked shots, deriving significant fantasy value from his dominance in that category. He set new career-best marks in points, boards, triples and blocked shots and improved his shooting across the board.
Wembanyama knocked down 47.6% of his attempts from the field, 83.6% from the charity stripe and 35.2% from beyond the arc. Most notably, his free throw attempts dropped from 5.2 to 4.1 while his three-point attempts ballooned from 5.5 to 8.8.
Wemby finished with a number of new career highs, including a 50-point game against the Wizards on November 13 in which he nailed eight triples. He set a new career-best mark in assists when he handed out 11 in a 34/14/11 game against the Kings to record his second career triple-double. He also grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds against the Nuggets on January 4.
Unfortunately for Wemby, he didn't return after the All-Star break due to deep vein thrombosis in his right shoulder. He appeared in 46 of the team's first 52 games before missing the remainder of the season. After undergoing surgery on March 27, he's expected to be ready for training camp, and fantasy managers can target him with the first overall pick in 2025-26 drafts.
As crazy as it sounds, the best is still yet to come for the phenomenal Frenchman.
Fantasy Revelation: Stephon Castle
Castle finished the season ranked just inside the top 300 in per-game fantasy value, but he was absolutely a revelation in his inaugural campaign.
Castle averaged 14.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 4.1 assists across 26.7 minutes as a rookie, but his numbers were better as a starter, and he closed out the 2024-25 campaign with some monster counting stats.
Across 47 starts, he averaged 16.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.9 assists, including averages of 19.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 6.2 assists over the final 18 games of the season.
Castle took things to a new level over the final eight games of the season, and his 18.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 7.5 assists vaulted him into the top 120 in per-game fantasy value during that span.
The UConn product posted two 30-point games, including a career-high 33 points at Charlotte on February 7. He corralled 15 rebounds against Denver on April 2, and he dished 14 assists against the 76ers on March 21.
Castle's versatility as a scorer, rebounder and facilitator were on full display over the final month of the season, and his outlook is bright. His poor shooting percentages from the field and the charity stripe dragged his overall fantasy value down, but rookies and efficiency don't always go hand-in-hand.
The reigning Rookie of the Year can boost his fantasy stock considerably with improvements as a shooter and a small bump in defensive contributions. He's got a monster ceiling heading into 2025-26.
De'Aaron Fox:
Fox came over to San Antonio in early February by way of a three-team deal that sent Zach LaVine to Sacramento and multiple players to Chicago.
In 17 games with the Spurs, Fox averaged 19.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.8 dimes, 1.5 steals and 1.5 triples. His scoring dropped, but his assists increased after averaging 25 points and 6.1 dimes with Sacramento before the trade.
Fox had a strong Spurs debut, going for 24/5/13 in a 126-125 win over the Hawks, and he nearly triple-doubled in his final game of the season, as he posted 32/9/11 against the Mavericks in a 126-116 victory.
Fox should be healthy to start the 2025-26 campaign after undergoing season-ending surgery to repair tendon damage in his left pinky on March 13. Numbers similar to those he produced in his first 17 games with the Spurs wouldn't be surprising, and fantasy managers can confidently draft him as a mid-round PG.
Devin Vassell:
Vassell missed the first nine games of the season and 14 of the first 18 due to a foot injury, but he enjoyed a productive season once he returned.
Vassell averaged 16.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.7 dimes, 1.5 steals, 0.6 blocks and 2.7 triples. He shot 45.2% from the floor, 85.1% from the charity stripe and 38.5% from beyond the arc and committed just 1.2 turnovers.
He finished as a top 80 per-game fantasy player for the third straight season, and he's been a top-100 guy in each of the last four. Vassell posted career highs in points and boards with a 37/11/5/4/1 performance against the Nets on March 4.
As a key contributor for the up-and-coming Spurs, expect strong production moving forward and another top-100 finish in 2025-26.
Chris Paul:
The veteran shocked NBA fans and fantasy managers alike when he appeared in all 82 games for the first time since 2014-15 and just the second time in his career.
Paul finished 83rd in per-game fantasy value behind averages of 8.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.7 triples while committing just 1.6 turnovers. He shot just 42.7% from the floor but canned 37.7% of his tries from long distance and sank 92.4% of his attempts from the charity stripe.
CP3 was a worthwhile fantasy option and strong veteran presence for an emerging Spurs squad. He's played for three teams in as many seasons, and he turned 40 in May. It's unclear if he'll return for another season, but if he does, he makes sense as a late-rounder in 2025-26 fantasy drafts.
Harrison Barnes:
A model of durability, Barnes appeared in all 82 games for the third straight season, averaging 12.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.9 triples across 27.2 minutes.
Barnes' minutes were his fewest since his rookie campaign in 2012-13, though he was highly efficient with his reduced playing time. The veteran shot 50.8% from the field, 80.9% from the charity stripe and a career-high 43.3% from beyond the arc.
As usual, Barnes had some random big games, as he scored at least 20 points in five of the Spurs' final eight and sunk a game-winning three against his former team, the Golden State Warriors on April 9.
Barnes will be available, so managers looking for stability can draft him late. On a per-game basis, he's not going to offer strong production.
Jeremy Sochan:
Injuries limited Sochan to just 54 games (23 starts), and he logged a career-low 25.3 minutes per game. He averaged 11.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.3 'stocks' while shooting 53.5% from the floor. He knocked down only 69.6% of his free throws and 30.8% of his three-pointers.
The 22-year-old provided numbers similar to Years 1 and 2, and his outlook for Year 4 looks to be about the same. The Spurs' top producers will be Wemby, Fox and Castle, with Vassell offering solid numbers as the No. 4. For everyone else, they'll fill the rotational minutes without a ton of upside. That's true of Sochan, who is a strong on-court defender but doesn't offer a ton to fantasy managers in the box score.
Julian Champagnie:
Champagnie enjoyed the most productive run of his young career, averaging 23.6 minute across 82 appearances and averaging 9.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 0.7 steals and 2.2 triples. He shot 41.5% from the floor but knocked down 90.4% of his free throw attempts and 37.1% of his tries from long range.
Champagnie started 29 games and saw modest improvements in his counting stats while running with the first unit. He's missed just eight games over the last two seasons and proven his reliability as a floor-spacer and offensive sparkplug. He'll likely earn rotational minutes next season, but there are a lot of mouths to feed in San Antonio, so Champagnie is not someone to draft in leagues of most sizes.
Keldon Johnson:
Johnson's role diminished significantly in Year 6, as he logged just 23.9 minutes per game, his fewest since his rookie campaign in 2019-20. He averaged 12.7 points, 4.8 boards, 1.6 dimes, 0.6 steals and 1.1 triples while shooting 48.2/77.3/31.8 splits.
For the first season of his career, Johnson didn't start a single game, and he finished outside the top 200 in per-game fantasy value. With Steph Castle still ascending and De'Aaron Fox ready to play his first full season with San Antonio, don't expect more playing time or touches for Johnson in Year 7. He's not a draftable option in 2025-26 fantasy basketball.
Restricted Free Agents: Harrison Ingram, David Duke Jr., Riley Minix
Unrestricted Free Agents: Chris Paul, Jordan McLaughlin, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Charles Bassey, Bismack Biyombo
Club Option: None
Player Option: None