Vassell agrees to five-year, $146M deal
Devin Vassell said Monday he hoped to remain with the Spurs for years to come. Then he got his wish.
The fourth-year forward has agreed to a five-year, $146 million extension, keeping him under team control through the 2027-28 campaign, league sources said.
The new contract makes Vassell, the 11th overall pick in the 2020 draft, an integral part of the core the Spurs intend to build around incoming rookie Victor Wembanyama.
Vassell and the Spurs faced an Oct. 23 deadline to reach an agreement on an extension, lest he become a restricted free agent next summer.
Asked at Spurs media day Monday morning about the potential of extending his contract, Vassell said his aim was to get something done.
“I want to be a Spur for a long time,” he said.
The team responded by handing Vassell the richest contract in Spurs history.
The 23-year-old averaged a career best 18.5 points last season, emerging as one of the NBA’S top mid-range shooters. However, Vassell appeared in only 38 games while battling a knee issue that requires arthroscopic surgery.
Vassell said Monday he is completely healed from that procedure and is looking forward to a healthy 2023-24 campaign.
“It was tough last year going back and forth, in and out of games, having to do a surgery,” Vassell said. “I took a lot away from that. I was always in good spirits, high spirits. I feel great. I want to get the season going.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he is eager to see what Vassell has in store this season.
“He wants to prove himself, both as a player and as a leader,” Popovich said. “He has been very vocal in the summer, demanding of his teammates, that sort of thing. He has already taken some big steps.”
Popovich is happy with new ‘home’
Popovich won’t need a real estate agent for his next move in San Antonio. He’s already got a place picked out.
The team will break in its new practice facility Tuesday with the opening workout of training camp. Dubbed the Victory Capital Performance Center, the venue is so state-of-the-art, so comfortable, so filled with bells and whistles that Popovich said he wouldn’t mind making it his new address.
“With all the additions, all the spaces that are available in these modern times, it’s almost like a home,” he said.
The 134,000 square foot Victory Capital Performance Center is the centerpiece of the Spurs’ new, sprawling $500 million complex on the city’s northwest side.
“I was thinking about moving in,” Popovich said. “I don’t know why I would leave, drive someplace to go to sleep when I could do it there and then get up in the morning and I am already at work. It is that kind of place. It’s really a home.”
Before transitioning to their new palace, the Spurs held their media day Monday at their old practice facility off Huebner
Road, which opened in 2002
“The players have always respected it,” Popovich said of what is known as the “Spurs Lane” facility. “The staff has always taken care of it, and it will be the same with the new facility.”
Simply put, the Victory Capital Performance Center is an “unbelievable building,” Popovich said. He said a tour of the facility last week left the players “awestruck.”
“It’s a beautiful facility,” forward Jeremy Sochan said. “It is massive, and I think it affects us in a very positive way. There is so much stuff to do in there, recovery, of course the basketball court, the food. We have everything there. We are very lucky and blessed to experience that.”
Coach supportive of ‘second chances’
With Josh Primo seeking to
rejuvenate his career in Los Angeles, Popovich suggested he’s glad the former Spurs guard is getting the opportunity.
The Clippers signed Primo, 20, to a two-way contract late last week shortly after the NBA announced it had suspended the 12th overall pick of the 2021 NBA draft four games without pay for “conduct detrimental to the league” after a league investigation determined he “engaged in inappropriate and offensive behavior by exposing himself to women.”
“I don’t really have any comments about who other people sign, but I’m sure many of us have had second chances in life,” Popovich said.
The Spurs waived Primo on Oct. 28, 2022. Shortly after he was let go, former Spurs psychologist Hillary Cauthen filed a lawsuit against the Spurs and Primo claiming team executives failed to take action against Primo despite her “numerous complaints about Primo’s improper sexual conduct” during private therapy sessions.
Primo denied the allegations through his attorney.
The parties settled the lawsuit in November 2022.
Basketball operations additions, promotions
The Spurs on Monday announced several additions and promotions to its basketball operations staff, including adding Kaleb Thornhill as vice president of player development and organization growth and Jimmy Baron as shooting development coach.
Thornhill joins the Spurs after establishing Pro Athlete Community (PAC) to help current and former NFL players develop business and life skills.
Baron is known in the NBA for his work as head skills coach at IMG Academy in Florida from 2020-2023. The Rhode Island native played professionally in Europe and Russia after playing for his father, Jim, at the University of Rhode Island, where he set the Atlantic 10 record for 3-pointers made with 361.
In their medical and performance group, the Spurs have added Guy Nicolette as director of sports medicine, Beth Morford as soft tissue specialist and Guillaume Alquier as athletic performance coach. Alquier is a French strength and conditioning coach who has been working with Victor Wembanyama.
The Spurs also announced the promotion of Josh Brannon to player development, Kenny Trevino to head video coordinator, and Jon Harris and Ryan Oliver to assistant video coordinators.