No team is perfectly equipped to survive the loss of its starting point guard, but Houston may be closer than any other.
Their center, Alperen Şengün, was already on the verge of taking the primary playmaker mantle. Thompson has some chops as a distributor. And, when you combine that with his defense and a likely increase in shot attempts, he could be in the mix for an All-Star nod. Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason, though neither has established himself as a high-level NBA scorer, will likely get more opportunities too.
All of the above have games that sort of bleed outside of traditional positional designations, too. So, while Thompson, Şengün, Sheppard and Durant may not dedicated, old-school, table-setting point guards, there could be enough playmaking up and down the roster to make up for VanVleet’s absence.
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