SAN ANTONIO — To start the San Antonio Spurs' 2023-24 season, Zach Collins was in the starting unit playing alongside rookie Victor Wembanyama.
However, as the season progressed, the team opted to shuffle the lineup, and now Collins finds himself coming off the bench rather than paired with Wemby as often as he had.
But as the season progresses, Collins admits he'd like to share time on the court more often with the French big man.
“We were playing together a lot more at the start of the year and then I got moved to coming off the bench, so we don’t really get to play together that much anymore, (but) I did enjoy playing with him because he’s a fun guy to throw the ball to under the rim," he said to The Spokesman-Review.
In 25 games played together, a two-man lineup of Collins and Wembanyama averages 33.0 points per game, including 44% field goal shooting, 30% three-point shooting, and 14.9 rebounds.
A deeper dive shows the big difference between having Collins on the court and not with Wembanyama.
They played 385 minutes together for a Net Rating of -10.48. Wembanyama has played 1007 total minutes without Collins on the court, which has yielded a Net Rating of -4.13.
However, in 656 total minutes with Collins on the court without Wembanyama, the Net Rating is -14.36.
Statistically, moving Collins was the best move, but he hopes to see more time on the court with the 20-year-old basketball phenom.
“Hopefully, we can get back out on the court a little bit more in the future," he said.
Collins is complimentary of Wembanyama, having played with him during the season and watched him develop since training camp.
It's no wonder why Collins would want to play more with the Spurs rookie sensation. Who wouldn't want to?
He is impressed with Wemby's ability to pass the ball and his work ethic for a rookie.
"As much as he needs to score first, he’s a very good passer, too," he said. "He stays in the gym, works really hard. We all respect that. As a rookie coming in, somebody who works that hard and wants to be better, that’s contagious.”
Before shifting to the second unit, Collins averaged 14.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 24 games as a starter this season.
He is averaging 11.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game this season through 43 games played.
He is thrilled at the opportunity the Spurs gave him after dealing with numerous injuries to start his NBA career and is enjoying the opportunity to grow offensively.
"Now, I’ve had the freedom to do a lot more here offensively, whether that’s scoring, passing at the top, pick and popping, all those things I knew I could do, but here I’ve been able to have the freedom to do that a lot more," he said. "Offensively, my game has grown leaps and bounds since I’ve gotten here.”
This season, he is averaging career-highs in field-goal attempts (9.3 per game), two-point field-goal percentage (58%), and assists (3.1 per game).