2023-24 Spurs Player Reviews: Charles Bassey

Daniel Dunn-USA TODAY Sports

For the second straight year, Bassey’s season was derailed by injury. Does he still have a future with the Spurs?

Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2023-24 player reviews! The series will look at the 15 players that finished the season with the Spurs on guaranteed contracts (so no two-way players because we saw so little of them this year, and no Doug McDermott). Enjoy!

Charles Bassey

2023-24 stats: 19 games, 3.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 72.5 FG%

Contract Status: 2 years, $5 million remaining ($0 guaranteed)

Age: 23

Coming into the season on the first standard contract of his career (but also with the 2023-24 season being the only guaranteed year), Charles Bassey was ready to prove his worth as an NBA player. The previous season had been full of ups and downs after he was waived by the 76ers, signed as two-way player with the Spurs, and earned a four-year contract while looking like their potential backup center of the near future. Unfortunately, a fractured patella ended his season prematurely, right as he was “just learning how to play,” as Gregg Popovich put it at the time.

This season was supposed to be redemption, and despite the addition of Victor Wembanyama, Bassey’s chance to earn playing time was not in serious danger since Wemby started the season at power forward and Zach Collins at center, and he earned the backup center spot. While his minutes were sporadic from game-to-game, Bassey was solid defensively, providing rim protection and rebounding when Wemby sat, but he was not much of an offensive presence for a second unit that struggled to score early in the season.

When Wemby moved to starting center and Collins to backup, Bassey was sent to the G League for some reps, but then, for the second season in a row, misfortune struck. He suffered a torn ACL while play in Austin in early December, and his season was over. It was especially unfortunate since Collins would miss a few weeks to start the New Year. Add Wemby playing on minutes restrictions at the same time, and that would have been Bassey’s big opportunity to prove his worth. Instead, he was rehabbing another knee injury while players like Dominick Barlow got their chances to shine. For Bassey, such an opportunity with the Spurs may or may not come again.

Looking forward

At this point, it’s hard to know if Bassey has a spot on the Spurs going forward. They can waive him for nothing this offseason (and very little any time after that), and he unfortunately has suffered season-ending injuries in two straight years. With Wemby now playing center and Collins presumably to remain his backup, minutes at center will likely be limited except when one of them misses time. Of course, Bassey would still be a cheap, reliable third option, but at the same time, the Spurs may be ready to go in a different direction or invest more in someone like Sandro Mamukelashvili, who certainly gave them a lot think about to close the season.

We may or may not have seen the last of Bassey in a Spurs uniform, but if so, it’s unfortunate that injuries prevented him from ever truly making a case for himself. He has certainly shown that he is above the G League at this point, but the Spurs may be too deep at center to have a spot for him going forward. If he is released, hopefully he can find a new home in the NBA, and if he stays, here’s to hoping the injury bug finally leaves so he can truly show his worth.