Cam Spencer helped the Grizzlies push their hot start to 6-0 , getting his first start of the season in Saturday's 136-105 win over the Kings with Ty Jerome and Scotty Pippen Jr. both out with back issues.
Spencer stepped in and finished with 10 points, five rebounds, 13 assists and zero turnovers in 25 minutes.
That exact combination, 13-plus assists with nothing in the turnover column, hadn't happened in Memphis since Tyus Jones did it in March 2023.
Jones had 13 points, 14 assists and zero turnovers in a win over Golden State while the Grizzlies were down their starting point guard, Ja Morant, who was serving a suspension at the time.
Spencer is known as a shooter first, with a competitive fire that doesn't care who's lined up across from him, but on Saturday, like Jones, he showed he can also be an efficient passer who takes care of the ball when the moment calls for it.
Over the past three games, he has had 26 assist and one turnover, one of the best stretches of his career distributing the ball.
This kind of passing role isn't new territory for Spencer, either, as he's hit that assist number before, just never this clean.
Spencer showed off his abilities to conduct the offense a few times last season, as he reached 13 assists three separate times, and he finished the year averaging a career-best 5.6 assists a game.
Before being taken with the 53rd pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Spencer averaged 14.3 points and 3.6 assists his senior year at UConn during their national championship run, a shooter first who could pass when the offense called for it.
Across 132 games at three different programs, Loyola, Rutgers and UConn, he averaged 14.2 points and 3.3 assists while shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 41.7 percent from three.
Ahead of the 2024 draft, scouts worried about how the rest of his game would translate as a older prospect (24 at the time): a shaky handle, one of the slower sprint times at the combine, and real doubts about whether he could even stay in front of NBA guards due to his speed.
Nobody had him really pegged as someone who could consistently run an NBA offense, seeing him as mostly just a elite shooter, but like this Grizzlies team as a whole, he keeps surprising us.
Spencer wasn't the only one who showed up in the franchise-tying sixth win to start the season.
Cameron Boozer scored a career-high 27 points with nine rebounds , while Spencer's usual bench mates Isaiah Stewart and GG Jackson each had big nights too, Stewart with a season-high 24 on 8-of-9 shooting and Jackson going 5 for 5 from three for 21.
Memphis's bench put up 81 points altogether, even with three key rotation pieces out and some players being elevated to starting, like Spencer.
Memphis is 6-0 now, 2-0 at home and 4-0 on the road, outscoring teams by better than 15 a night , and will look to continue the hot streak against the 2-4 New Orleans Pelicans at FedExForum on Monday night.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/grizzlies/onsi as No Point Guard, No Problem: Cam Spencer Continues to Step Up .
