The OKC Thunder have made it a mission of theirs to focus the lion's share of attention on trying to slow down Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama here in the conference finals and, in turn, daring his teammates to step up in order to beat them.
Unfortunately, Oklahoma City has inadvertently found Devin Vassell turning into something of a silent assassin with their sights set elsewhere.
Though not an established star like the likes of Wemby and De'Aaron Fox, or a walking highlight like Stephon Castle is proving to be, the former first-round pick is quietly proving to be one of the more troublesome contributors on San Antonio's roster.
Thunder have added pressure to slow down role players like Devin Vassell
Through four games played so far, Vassell is posting averages of 17.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks on 45.2 percent shooting from deep.
He's also served as one of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's more troubling matchups, as the two-time MVP is shooting at a mere 29.4 percent clip when guarded by the wing.
Simply put, while it'll certainly be challenging to add yet another person of interest to their list, the Thunder can't allow Vassell to continue crushing them the way that he has been if they want to retake this currently tied-up best-of-seven series.
This means aggressively closing out and playing up when found out near the perimeter (where 7.8 of his 11.3 shots per game are coming from this series) and signaling for big bodies like Isaiah Hartenstein to come over his way when guarding Gilgeous-Alexander for a much-needed hard screen.
Fortunately for the Thunder, they have an established track record of throwing Vassell out of sync during the regular season, where, in four contests played, he was held to a mere 34.9 percent shooting from the floor and 31.0 percent shooting from deep.
Of course, though the objective is clear, the plan to accomplish it is far from it.
Not only are there a number of other high-impact Spurs players ahead of him in the must-stop pecking order, but OKC is presumably heading into Game 5 without the two most likely players who would be tasked with shadowing him, Jalen Williams (hamstring) and Ajay Mitchell (calf), in tow.
Heck, even if the Thunder opt to risk it, and J-Dub does return to action, it's almost certain he'd be limited both in the endurance and athletic departments.
All things considered, unless OKC can find a way to both hold Wembanyama and his surrounding role players in check with their defensive efforts and elite strength in numbers abilities, this hobbled Thunder team could very realistically be heading into a win-or-go-home Game 6 out in San Antonio on Thursday night.
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