With just 15 games to go, the San Antonio Spurs find themselves in a tough spot. Missing their two best players, they are in a race to the bottom with no clear sense of direction for the final stretch of the season. All you can ask for are signs of life from the Spurs’ young core. Despite the losses stacking up, San Antonio’s most important pieces are playing well.

The Spurs were outplayed by the Los Angeles Lakers in a 125-109 loss on Monday night. It was not for a lack of effort. San Antonio gave them a run for their money in the fourth quarter. That run was led by Blake Wesley, Stephon Castle Keldon Johnson, and Jeremy Sochan. When San Antonio fought to stay in it at the game’s start, Devin Vassell was their go-to scorer. That’s what San Antonio wants to see to wrap up the season.

Castle is learning valuable lessons while guarding some of the best perimeter players in the league. Vassell is looking more and more like a solid fourth or third scoring option on a good team. Johnson is playing some of the best basketball of his life. Sochan has been great off the bench and is the type of energy player the Spurs will need in the future. Heck, even Blake Wesley showed signs of being a disruptive 3&D guard against the Lakers.

Those developments are what the end of this season is all about. Most people have turned their gaze to the offseason and what comes next. The improvements the young core shows over the next 15 games will play a big role in what that future looks like.

Takeaways:

• Castle got into foul trouble early thanks to the savvy Luka Doncic. Castle racked up 4 fouls early in the third quarter and was forced to sit for a considerable amount of time. After that, he had to guard the Lakers without fouling. The results were mixed, but that didn’t stop him from enforcing his will down the stretch. When the game was out of reach, Castle took over by getting to the basket and knocked down a trio of threes. He finished with 23 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.
• Vassell’s scoring hasn’t necessarily been consistent, but at times, he’s looked more like the third option the Spurs are looking for long-term. He’s hitting threes again, making a concerted effort on the defensive end, and attacking closeouts for pull-ups or lane drives. In the first quarter, he had it going and finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds. He’s coming off screens more and looked good doing it. That should be his role when De’Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama return. It’ll be exciting to see what he looks like alongside them at the start of the next season.
• Sochan was the Spurs’ most effective Doncic defender while giving them an offensive spark. He’s actually playing more and more like a small-ball center with his rim runs in transition, offensive rebounding, and play finishing inside. His improvement at the three-point line has been one of his biggest developments of the season – you have to at least think about him out there now. His physical ejection from the game (questionable if it was worthy of that) is what sparked the fourth-quarter run. He’s an important player who should get starting consideration at center for the rest of the season.