Spurs Season Preview: Where Does Veteran Center Khem Birch Stand?
Wembanyama, Wembanyama, Wembanyama.
To this point, just about everything regarding the San Antonio Spurs has centered around their new rookie, which has put them back in the NBA spotlight.
How good can a 7-4 French phenom really be? Will he lead San Antonio to the NBA Finals, and is his legacy already on the line?
Just about every question you can think of has been asked of Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs prior to his first season, but there are still plenty of storylines besides him to follow with Gregg Popovich's squad. And Khem Birch is one of them.
Oct 2, 2023; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Khem Birch (92) poses for photos during media day.
© Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
Birch is entering his eighth season in the league, having landed with the Spurs in the latter half of last season as a part of the Jakob Poeltl trade with Toronto. With his age and non-scheme-fitting skillset however, he never saw any game action.
While nothing is for certain just quite yet regarding the Spurs' final roster just yet, that trend may very well continue, as Birch is a strong candidate for being bought out and waived prior to the NBA's roster cutoff deadline.
Birch isn't a weak NBA player. He's a veteran and brings with him experience that a lot of the Spurs' roster doesn't have, but that's where it also could come back to bite him.
San Antonio is more than covered at the "big position," and even though the positionless basketball gig is evidently on the rise with the Spurs and across the NBA, his on-court talents just aren't what Popovich's squad needs.
That's not to say he can't contribute scoring and rebounding at the level he did for Toronto or Orlando if given the opportunity, but the Spurs would likely prefer to stick with the players they've already seen in action most recently, especially younger players like Dominick Barlow, Charles Bassey and Jeremy Sochan — all of which will be a part of the Spurs' vision moving forward.
Birch is on the last year of his 3-year, $20 million contract he signed with the Raptors, meaning his almost $7 million salary this season would need to be bought by San Antonio in order to cut-down its roster.
Birch may not be the one who gets left behind by the Spurs, but he's certainly a candidate. That's where he stands as of now.
