Dylan Harper’s path to a bigger place in the San Antonio Spurs’ rotation is pretty clear: make the jumper a real weapon.
Right now, San Antonio has a crowded backcourt battle with three players fighting for two spots. Stephon Castle and De'Aaron Fox look set as the current starters, but Harper is close enough to matter, and he could start eating into either player’s minutes in 2026-27 and beyond.
The catch is that Harper’s best route to more steady playing time is also the one skill his competition doesn’t really offer. If he can become a dependable three-point shooter, he can separate himself from both Castle and Fox and make himself hard to keep off the floor.
Fox remains a major piece of the picture. When Victor Wembanyama was injured in 2025-26, Fox was the Spurs’ main scorer and playmaker. He’s an All-NBA point guard in his prime, and he brings a level of poise and pacing that a young roster can lean on.
That means Harper has to fit with more than just Castle. He also has to prove he can share the floor with Fox, because there could be nights when the veteran is the preferred option over the former Rookie of the Year.
There’s also a version of this where all three end up starting together. At 6'3", 6'5", and 6'6", they have enough size to make that work, and the skill overlap becomes more manageable if at least one of them is knocking down shots from deep.
Harper looks like the best candidate to be that guy.
The numbers say there’s real progress to build on. As a rookie, Harper hit 34.3 percent from three, which is encouraging enough to suggest he’s not far from being effective. But the full picture shows there’s still work ahead: he shot 33.3 percent in college and then matched that mark in the playoffs.
Even with the shooting numbers, Harper should have been better. Basketball Index had him in the 93rd percentile in three-point shot quality, which points to a player getting decent looks without fully cashing in on them.
That matters because the Castle-Fox-Harper idea gets messy if nobody is stretching the floor. Fox is a career 33.1 percent shooter from beyond the arc over nine seasons.
Castle has shot 28.5 and 33.2 percent across his first two NBA years. Harper’s own numbers aren’t yet enough to solve the problem on their own.
For a team that wants to run its offense through Victor Wembanyama, that kind of spacing is a real issue. Julian Champagnie and Devin Vassell can help from the starting lineup, but the Spurs would still benefit from one more backcourt player who can punish defenses from outside.
That’s where Harper can change the equation. If the three-pointer becomes a reliable part of his game, he gives the Spurs more lineup flexibility and makes it easier to play him with Castle, Fox, or both.
A polished jumper isn’t a simple thing to manufacture, but if Harper takes that step, his role in San Antonio can get a lot bigger, a lot faster.
In Other News...
Spurs Have A Big Question As Their Guard Trio Takes On More
Mitch Johnson is pushing the Spurs toward a bigger role for their young guard trio, with Dylan Harper, DeAaron Fox and Stephon Castle expected to share the floor more often than they did a year ago. The idea is built on what the group flashed in limited stretches last season, and San Antonio wants to see those promising moments turn into something more stable as the minutes start to rise.
For that to work, the fit has to be cleaner away from the ball. Johnson has pointed to the need for the guards to sharpen the little things that make an overloaded backcourt function, especially spacing the floor and cutting hard to the rim. It is the kind of adjustment that could unlock the lineup, and also the part of the experiment that will decide whether the Spurs can keep leaning into it. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama May Need One New Weapon To Protect His Future
Victor Wembanyama already stands out as one of the leagues most difficult scorers to game-plan for, thanks to a skill set that stretches defenses in almost every direction. But as the Spurs continue managing his development, there is a growing basketball case for adding another layer to his attack, one that could make him even harder to defend while also helping preserve the kind of body that has to carry a massive workload.
The idea is pretty simple: if Wembanyama can become more dependable from the middle of the floor, he may not have to absorb so much contact at the rim or rely as heavily on the same high-impact possessions every night. His current touch from that area leaves room for growth, and for a player with his long-term importance in San Antonio, the payoff would not just be about scoring. It would be about building a path that keeps his game efficient, sustainable and a little easier on his future. [Read more 🡒]
Tobias Harris Just Changed A Tough Spurs Decision
Tobias Harris arrived in San Antonio as one of the more interesting offseason additions, and the fit already feels like a live roster question for the Spurs. At media day, Harris made it clear he is focused on winning and is prepared to handle whatever role the team asks of him, which is exactly the kind of flexibility a young team wants from a veteran forward.
The complication is obvious enough: Devin Vassell and Julian Champagnie are the current starting forwards, and Harris gives the Spurs another proven option in that same mix. His place in the rotation will come down to what the team needs and how everyone performs, making this less about a simple signing and more about an early-season decision that could shape the way the Spurs line up. [Read more 🡒]