Carter Bryant has a chance to put the Spurs in a spot every coach wants and every rotation player dreads: too many good options.
After a promising rookie season, Bryant is staring at a big leap. If he develops into the 3&D wing San Antonio’s staff is counting on, Julian Champagnie’s minutes could shrink next season, and a starting role might even be on the table.
That wouldn’t mean Champagnie has done anything wrong. Far from it.
He’s been one of the team’s most dependable catch-and-shoot weapons, knocking down 38% of his threes in the regular season and 39.6% in the playoffs. The 25-year-old forward gave the Spurs exactly what they needed in tight moments, spacing the floor and burying shots when the pressure was highest.
Still, Bryant brings a different kind of value. At lengthy and athletic, with real defensive chops and shooting upside, he can influence both ends in a way that’s hard to overlook. If he becomes the player San Antonio drafted him to be, Mitch Johnson won’t have much choice but to rethink the rotation.
The issue for Champagnie isn’t reliability. It’s ceiling.
His three-point shooting is elite, but Bryant’s appeal is broader. He has the tools to be a floor spacer, an aggressive slasher, and a defensive stopper all at once.
That kind of versatility tends to reshape lineups.
Tobias Harris adds another layer to the picture. San Antonio signed him to a two-year, $30.8M deal, and his scoring, size, and experience will make him tough to keep off the floor. Like Champagnie, Harris can operate without the ball, but he also creates more offense for himself off the dribble.
None of that means Champagnie disappears from the rotation. The Spurs still need his shooting. But if Bryant and Harris are giving San Antonio more complete two-way value, Champagnie’s role could look very different from what it did a year ago.
And that’s really the story here: the Spurs may be so deep that they’re creating a good problem for themselves. If Bryant does crack the starting five and Champagnie slides to the bench, San Antonio would still have a proven shooter to lean on with the second unit.
That kind of roster flexibility says plenty about the work the front office has done. The next step is simple enough in theory: everyone has to buy in, whether their role is the same or not. If that happens, the Spurs believe there’s not much in the way of chasing the Larry O'Brien trophy in 2027.
In Other News...
Julian Champagnie May Be More Important To The Spurs Than Fans Realize
Julian Champagnie spent last season looking like the kind of complementary forward every good roster needs, the sort who doesnt always grab headlines but keeps lineups balanced when hes on the floor. His overall impact showed up in the Spurs on/off numbers, and that kind of quiet value matters on a team still sorting out which role players can reliably fit around its young core. He has already shown he can handle that supporting job effectively, which is part of why he keeps coming up as someone the Spurs may need more than casual observers realize.
The next step is less about flash and more about tightening the edges of his game. Better shooting consistency, more physical play and stronger rebounding would make his minutes even harder to take away, especially with his fit alongside the teams key pieces already pointing in the right direction. If those pieces fall into place, Champagnie could move from useful to indispensable, which is exactly the kind of leap that can quietly reshape a rotation. [Read more 🡒]
Stephon Castle Is Earning Praise For What Could Set Him Apart
Stephon Castles second NBA season gave the Spurs more evidence that his value goes well beyond the box score. He finished the year averaging 16.7 points and 7.4 assists, but the attention around him has increasingly centered on what he can do on the other end, where his defensive versatility has already started to separate him from a lot of young guards.
Castles trainer, Olin Simplis, has been among the loudest voices pointing to that side of his game, praising his ability to handle multiple positions and turn defense into a calling card. It is the kind of trait that can make a player stand out in a league filled with scorers, and it helps explain why some around the Spurs see a different kind of ceiling for Castle even as comparisons to bigger-name wings continue to swirl. [Read more 🡒]
Carter Bryant Has One Big Step Left In Spurs Core Build
Carter Bryants early run with the Spurs has already given the organization something it values deeply: a young wing who can make life hard on opposing scorers. His defensive profile has stood out from the start, giving San Antonio reason to believe it has another long, versatile piece to work with as the roster keeps taking shape around its next core.
The bigger question is how far Bryant can go on the other end. His development as a three-point shooter and a more reliable scorer will go a long way toward determining whether he becomes a useful stopper or a true two-way difference-maker, and for a Spurs team still building toward title-level expectations, that kind of offensive jump could end up being the final piece they are waiting on. [Read more 🡒]