Name tags not included
Little-used youngsters getting major minutes amid COVID outbreak
Let it be said, unequivocally and neon bold lettering, that Keita Bates-diop is not a monster.
If he had been allowed to script the circumstances of his busiest and best night in a Spurs uniform, it would not have included five teammates coming down with the COVID-19 virus.
Handed a key role off the bench Wednesday in Oklahoma City — by way of having both a pulse and a negative test for coronavirus — Bates-diop was determined not to squander the chance the Spurs’ bad fate had afforded him.
“Anytime you can play in the NBA, it’s an opportunity,” said Bates-diop, a heretofore little-used 25-year-old forward. “It doesn’t matter the reason for it.”
The short-handed Spurs lost 102-99 in OKC on a Luguentz Dort 3-pointer at the buzzer. Bates-diop was among the reasons the Spurs were in the game at all.
He logged 20 minutes — nearly doubling the 27 he had played in eight prior appearances — and tallied a season-best nine points with four rebounds and four steals.
“I think I do a little bit of everything,” said Bates-diop, the 2018 Big Ten Player of the Year at Ohio State. “I’m not the biggest ballhandler or anything like that, but I
play well off the ball. I can guard most positions and make it easier on guys around me.”
When the cavalry arrived for the Covid-riddled Spurs earlier this week, it came wearing name tags.
Besides Bates-diop, the Spurs also got solid contributions in OKC from second-year forward Luka Samanic and rookie guard Tre Jones, who a week earlier were competing in the G League bubble in Orlando, Fla.
“They gave us a chance to win the ballgame,” coach Gregg Popovich said.
Tonight at the AT&T Center, the Spurs might face New Orleans with the same 10-man roster they took to OKC.
Five players are out because of health and safety protocols (Derrick White, Keldon Johnson, Rudy Gay, Devin Vassell and Quinndary Weatherspoon). Demar Derozan, who missed Wednesday’s game
after the death of his father, is listed as questionable.
Lamarcus Aldridge, who came off the bench in OKC after missing three weeks with a right hip injury, is questionable with a sore wrist.
If the Spurs are to remain competitive, they will need winning minutes from players who are household names only in their own households.
Samanic earned his second career start in Popovich’s makeshift lineup in OKC, and responded with four points and four rebounds in 19 minutes.
Jones gave the Spurs’ depleted guard corps a break with 12 passable minutes that included four points.
“They held their composure,” said point guard Dejounte Murray, who led the Spurs with 27 points against the Thunder. “They played hard. That’s what I try to tell them: ‘You are going to make shots and miss shots, maybe turn the ball over. Just play hard.’ ”
In a sense, Samanic and Jones faced a smoother return to the
NBA floor than their veteran teammates.
While the rest of the roster was without a game for 10 days — including five spent sequestered in hotel rooms in Charlotte — the two G Leaguers were playing every other day for the Austin Spurs in Orlando.
Samanic, a 21-year-old drafted 19th overall in 2019, averaged 21.8 points and 11.3 rebounds in seven games with Austin. He is one of only five G League players averaging at least 20 and 10.
Jones, who the Spurs selected in the second round out of Duke in November, leads the G League in assists with 9.7 per game while also posting 18.1 points.
“It was strictly just basketball down there,” said Jones, who was both the ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year as a sophomore. “As tough as it was on your body as far as all the games you are playing, it was also kind of fun. Kind of like an AAU setting.”
One lesson Jones learned Wednesday:
There is nobody in the G League like Shai Gilgeous-alexander, the up-and-coming Thunder guard who scorched the Spurs for a career-best 42 points.
With the Pelicans in town tonight, the patchwork Spurs must contend with the likes of Zion Williamson, who bullied his way onto his first All-star team this season, and Brandon Ingram, a member of last year’s squad.
“We need everyone to step up and make an impact in some way, shape or form,” guard Patty Mills said.
That means good play from veterans such as Mills and Murray. It also means quality minutes from Lonnie Walker IV and Trey Lyles, both of whom returned to the starting lineup, and Jakob Poeltl, who remained there.
And it means tossing Samanic, Jones and Bates-diop back into the fire. Before Wednesday, they had 22 combined appearances this season, almost every minute coming after outcomes had been decided.
“It is not easy, but it is an opportunity,” Poeltl said. “I’ve been in similar situations before. … You want to play smart and hopefully earn more minutes down the line.”
That has been Bates-diop’s approach during what he calls “the weirdest season of my career.”
After a stellar stint at Ohio State, the 6-foot-8 forward was a secondround pick of Minnesota in that year’s draft, and spent his first two professional seasons in the G League between tours with the Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets.
Bates-diop joined the Spurs on a two-way contract in the fall. In a season that did not involve navigating a pandemic, he would have ticketed for more G League time.
All Bates-diop wanted was a chance to prove himself. Through no fault of his own, COVID-19 has given it to him.
“I showed a little of what I can do,” Bates-diop said. “Hopefully I can build on that.”