Faced with naming his personal goals for the regular season, Malaki Branham didn’t budge.
The gears in his head were turning as he stared at the question; the San Antonio Spurs guard seemed to recall exactly what they were in an instant. But that knowledge was going to remain where it was. Tucked away, where only he would know of them.
“I’m going to keep that to myself,” Branham said with a laugh.
As he picked up his towel — now damp with sweat — to wipe his face again, the questions kept coming: What was the identity of the Spurs? How much had Victor improved? Did he go anywhere over the offseason?
Branham was tough to break, keeping his answers short, simple and self-explanatory.
“Working out. Getting better,” he said. “That was my whole summer … (I’m) just staying ready whenever my number is called. That’s it.”
Entering Year 3 with the Spurs, Branham had done so. During a developmental season geared toward learning how to play alongside a talent like Victor Wembanyama, he notched some time, starting 29 contests and averaging close to 10 points a game.
Those numbers were promising, especially for just a second-year point guard, but with the Spurs adding significant talent at that position over the offseason — namely Chris Paul and Stephon Castle — Branham joined the log jam that made up San Antonio’s guard room.
Suddenly, he was competing with his teammates for a limited number of minutes, including his summer 1-on-1 partner, Blake Wesley.
The pair couldn’t tell you what their head-to-head record was during those runs, but they never denied how competitive they were. And for Branham, specifically, they helped him work on aspects of his game he knew he’d have to improve upon to keep himself in Gregg Popovich’s rotation.
“Putting the ball in the basket and playing defense,” Branham explained of the skills he repped. Not fine tuned, as he was quick to specify, but repped. “My defense has gotten a lot better, (too). Some of it is the weight room — I’ve been lifting a lot — and some of it is technique.”
Initially, it didn’t seem to be enough. The guard had improved, but not more than someone like Wesley, who took most of Branham’s preseason minutes. As a result, it seemed as if Branham would spend most of the early season watching from the bench.
In Game 1 when the Spurs faced the Dallas Mavericks, Branham logged just six minutes. He shot the ball five times, made three, and notched a pair of rebounds to go with it.
It wasn’t much, but those shots made a difference.
“We can all help each other be the best versions of ourselves,” Chris Paul said following the Spurs’ loss to Dallas. “Like Malaki. Malaki didn’t play much tonight, but every time he shoots it, I expect it to go in.”
Paul’s assessment came from watching him throughout training camp and practice. Branham oftentimes found himself working with both him and Harrison Barnes, especially from 3, to get more reps under his belt.
“It feels good to have some vets who have been through the hardships,” Branham explained. “I’ve been learning as much as I can from them. Communication is a big part. … It’s helpful.”
It wasn’t just Branham who felt that working with Paul or Barnes was beneficial. After showing promise in his six minutes against the Mavericks, the guard earned himself more minutes in each of the following two contests against the Houston Rockets.
In the first contest, he shot the same from the field — 3-for-5 — but added two blocks to his statline in an outing that proved his defensive work had paid off. When the second time came around, it seemed as if he’d found his groove.
He knocked in three 3s and finished with the third-most points on the night for San Antonio, which earned him some praise from Popovich.
“He’s been a pro,” Popovich said. “He didn’t get that much time in the first two games, but he’s done what he’s needed to in practice and shootarounds. He came in and he was ready to go. Class act.”
Though the Spurs lost, it was a promising performance from Branham. The game was slowing down for him, and it was clear that his role was beginning to crystalize — even if it meant coming off the bench with fluctuating minutes.
“We’re the second unit for a reason,” Branham said. “If the starters aren’t doing their job, or starting out slow, we’ve got to come in and bring some energy.”
Wiping his face with his towel again as he acknowledged that Year 3 was going to pivotal in his development and future with San Antonio, Branham prepared to face the final line of questioning for the day at the podium inside Victory Capital Performance Center.
He didn’t know that he’d be back in front of the media after three games to speak on what ended up being a salient performance over the Rockets; his best of the season, and a relative surprise for a player who seemingly lost his rotational minutes to Wesley. Was that a goal of his? That, nobody knew.
It was just Day 2 of training camp, and there was a long way to go, but Branham did feel like he had something to prove in San Antonio. Perhaps he was the only one who wasn’t going to be surprised by his production and potential, but he wouldn’t tell you that.
Branham smiled. He got up from his seat, wiped his face one more time and went back to practice. Even in his final words, he refused to budge.
Because anything beyond the obvious lived only in his head.
“I just like to,” he paused, his jaw clenching, “I just like to keep my goals tight.”
