Rookie Vassell shines in debut

First-round draft pick contributes 12 points, flashes his defensive prowess in 25 minutes

Gregg Popovich had a difficult time making his way from the parking lot to the locker room for the Spurs’ first game at the AT&T Center in nine months.

“I got lost,” he said. “All those orange pylons confused me. I went in circles for a while, and then I finally got in.”

Back in their arena to play for the first time since March 10 because of the pandemic, the Spurs showed some early confusion themselves defensively in falling 121-108 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

On the bright side, their firstround draft pick didn’t look lost at all.

Logging 25 minutes, Devin Vassell finished with 12 points and hit 2 of 4 shots from 3-point range. Drafted 11th overall as the Spurs’ highest pick since they took Tim Duncan No. 1 overall in 1997, the 20-year-old Florida State-ex also had six rebounds, three steals, two assists and one block.

After coming off the bench in the first half for six minutes, Vassell started in the second half.

“He did a fine job,” Popovich said of the 6-foot-6 guard. “He’s competitive. He plays the game wisely. He did a fine job.”

Not surprisingly, Vassell said he had to fight off a nervous feeling in the early going.

“Playing in my first NBA game, I definitely had some jitters,” he said. “But at the end of the day, it’s just basketball. I focused on

making the right plays, focused on the defensive end first. Shots are going to fall. You are going to make some, you are going to miss some. But you can always bring a consistent effort on the defensive end.”

Touted as one of the top defenders in the draft, Vassell showed off those skills with his three steals, a testament to his ability to anticipate plays.

“You just kind of got to see it,” Vassell said. “It’s kind of like a gamble. You’ve got to know if there is a shooter or something in the corner. I was kind of taught that at FSU and decided to bring it here.”

Spurs forward Rudy Gay echoed Popovich’s comments about Vassell showing some moxie right off the bat.

“He’s a tough player,” Gay said. “He has heart. He’s smart. He knows how to play. That’s something not a lot of young players have. It’s still early, but I see him getting better and better and better.”

Popovich hopes the same will be true of his team’s defensive play.

In building a 73-58 halftime cushion, the Thunder shoot 62.5 percent from the field (25 of 40), including 60 percent from 3-point range (9 of 15).

“The first half was worse than a regular preseason game,” Popovich said. “The second half was much better. The first half was pretty poor.”

Asked specifically what went wrong defensively in the first half, Popovich said, “They scored a thousand points in the first half. That’s not good.”

For the game, Oklahoma City hit almost 49 percent of their shots from the field (43 of 88) and a whopping 54.8 percent of their shots from distance (17 of 31).

Seven Thunder players finished in double figures, with Theo Maledon leading the way with 20 points off the bench. Mike Muscala finished with 18 on 5-of-5 shooting, including 4 of 4 from downtown.

Patty Mills led the Spurs with 24 points off the bench after promising last week to be more aggressive as a shooter.

The Spurs also got double figures from Gay (15), LaMarcus Aldridge (14) and DeMar DeRozan (12), a trio that joined Dejounte Murray and Jakob Poeltl in the starting lineup.

Aldridge, who promised last week to put up more 3-point shots last week, was 3 of 10 from downtown. The 10 attempts surpassed his season high last year of nine.

“The thing about it is, LaMarcus can shoot,” Gay said. “I don’t think in his career he’s shot that many, but that doesn’t mean he can’t. He’s been encouraged to light it up. He can light it up, and he will.”

The game was played without fans. The Spurs are aiming for their clash against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 1 to be their first game with fans, albeit on a limited basis.

“It was different,” Gay said of playing in an empty home arena. “There were a couple of times when there was dead silence. But we adjusted. It’s all about going out there and competing.”

Both teams were shorthanded because of injuries, with the Spurs missing Derrick White (toe), Keldon Johnson (foot) and Quinndary Weatherspoon (knee).

Only five players from last season returned for the Thunder, who also have a new coach in Mark Daigneault, who at 35 is the second-youngest coach in the league.

The Spurs suffered one injury. Keita Bates-Diop did not play in the second half after spraining his left ankle in the second quarter.