The San Antonio Spurs’ season effectively came to an end this morning when All-Star center Victor Wembanyama was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a blood clot in his shoulder. Instead of coming to Texas to play with Wemby, point guard De’Aaron Fox is, all of a sudden, San Antonio’s leading man.
Fox’s first game as the Spurs’ sole star will come tonight in a nationally-televised clash against the Phoenix Suns at 9:30 p.m. ET. In five games in San Antonio, he’s averaging 21.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 7.8 assists per game, although he’s yet to find his stroke from beyond the arc.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Spurs are 2.5-point underdogs and the point total is set to 238. Below, I’ve outlined my favorite props centered around Swipa.
Best De’Aaron Fox Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
De’Aaron Fox U6.5 Assists (-140)
Losing the league’s premier lob threat is going to hurt any point guard, and Wembanyama’s impact on Fox’s production was evident from the moment that the southpaw touched down in San Antonio. The 7.8 assists per game that Fox is averaging as a Spur would be a career high, and the 13 assists that he recorded in his San Antonio debut marked his best performance of the season. Without Wembanyama, San Antonio is woefully undersized; six-foot-eight Jeremy Sochan will probably be the starting center, and either Bismack Biyombo or Sandro Mamukelashvili will get real minutes.
The Spurs’ lack of size might not hurt them tonight against a Phoenix team that has allowed the third-most rebounds per game since introducing Nick Richards to the starting lineup 14 games ago, but it means Fox will be primarily a scorer, not a distributor. Wembanyama’s injury will also open up more minutes for rookie guard Stephon Castle. If he were healthy, he could handle some of the second unit’s playmaking duties, but without him, Castle will handle more playmaking duties, which will hurt Fox as a distributor.
De’Aaron Fox U1.5 Steals (-130)
Fox’s nickname is Swipa for a reason — he led the NBA in steals per game last season — and he has recorded at least two steals in 19 of his 50 games, including seven total steals in his first two games in San Antonio. He only recorded two combined steals over his next three games with the Spurs against a trio of teams that generally take good care of the ball in the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, and Washington Wizards. Theoretically, he should be a good bet to record his 20th two-steal game against the Suns, who have allowed the fourth-most steals per game to opposing players since Richards joined the team.
However, while San Antonio is likely to play more conservatively without Wembanyama lurking in the paint to clean up the misses. Without the world’s best paint defender — in addition to blocking 3.9 shots per game and holding opponents to 13.9 percentage points worse than usual within six feet of the basket, Wembanyama also dissuades opponents from attempting shots, even in the All-Star Tournament — patrolling the middle, the Spurs are suddenly much more exploitable if Fox gambles for a steal and gets blown by. Sochan and Mamukelashvili are decent paint defenders in their own right — Sochan especially — but they’re not a get-out-of-jail-free card like Wemby is.
