Replacing shower head/water valve without tub spout

Currently have a shower stall with just the head and the hot/cold water valve, want to get a new head and valve set but the set we want comes with the tub spout as well, am I able to just install the new head and water valve and discard the tub spout? I keep getting answers like yes but just plug the diverter valve and this and that but since we never had a tub spout to begin with why wouldn’t I be able to just throw on the new valve handle and shower head without worrying about having to “plug” anything