Tobias Harris didn’t need much convincing about what the Spurs are trying to build.
San Antonio had competition for the veteran forward this offseason, but Harris saw the Spurs as the best fit for the one thing he still wants most in his career.
“I have one goal that I would love to accomplish through the rest of my career,” Harris said, per Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). “That’s to win a championship.”
That goal, along with the Spurs’ roster and direction, made the match feel natural to Harris. San Antonio wanted a versatile scoring forward to pair with Victor Wembanyama and its group of guards - De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper - and the feeling was mutual.
Fox called Harris’ arrival “big for us,” while Keldon Johnson said the 34-year-old’s “presence has been felt already.” Head coach Mitch Johnson also praised the veteran’s character, saying that his “reputation precedes him as a human being and as a player.”
Harris said the fit made sense on every level.
“I look at the talent of the group, the trajectory of the team and just the willingness of wanting and striving to win a championship, and all those things align with me personally,” Harris said. “We fit in terms of what I bring to the table, but also in terms of what the team is striving for and where they want to get in the years to come. In my opinion, it’s a perfect match.”
Elsewhere in the Southwest, Dallas still has some roster math to sort through if Dwight Powell is going to land on the Mavericks’ 15-man regular season group. Christian Clark of The Athletic notes that there isn’t an obvious candidate to be pushed out. The Mavs are likely reluctant to move any of their lowest-paid players - Marcus Sasser, Sergio de Larrea, Tarik Biberovic, and Moussa Cisse among them - and while Caleb Martin could be moved, Clark writes that the front office probably wouldn’t want to attach draft assets just to shed his two-year, $19.4MM deal.
In New Orleans, Pelicans executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said at media day, via Rod Walker of NOLA.com (subscription required), that he doesn’t have a specific win total in mind for the 2026/27 season. Still, he made the team’s expectation plain: the Pelicans would “like to be a playoff team.”
That would be a sharp jump for a team that went 26-56 last season, but there’s a different feel around camp this year. New head coach Jamahl Mosley called the Pelicans’ fully healthy roster “huge,” according to Walker (subscription required).
Houston also has plenty to sort through this fall. William Guillory of The Athletic laid out the biggest questions facing 11 key Rockets players, including whether Fred VanVleet’s return can clean up the team’s clutch-time problems and whether free agent pickup Bogdan Bogdanovic still has something left.
And in Memphis, the first day of Grizzlies training camp brought at least one encouraging update. Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that Zach Edey has been medically cleared after ankle surgery.
In Other News...
Spurs Title Hopes Now Ride On Stephon Castle Becoming More
The Spurs did not spend the summer tearing up a roster that reached the NBA Finals, so the next step in San Antonio is supposed to come from inside the building. A lot of that burden lands on Stephon Castle, whose second NBA season brought visible growth as a shooter, defender and playmaker, enough progress to make him look like a player the Spurs can trust in bigger moments.
What they need now is more offense, and more often, from a young guard the team believes can rise to an All-Star level. If Castle makes that leap, it would give San Antonio another layer alongside De'Aaron Fox and Victor Wembanyama, and make the Spurs less dependent on any one route to scoring when the games tighten in the spring. [Read more 🡒]
Devin Vassell Has A Big New Role In The Spurs Next Step
At Spurs media day, the mood around Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and rookie Carter Bryant leaned playful, but the conversation also pointed to something more important for San Antonios next step. Bryant, who was drafted in 2026, has already drawn attention inside the building for his work ethic and long-term upside, and he has been soaking up what he can from Vassell as he adjusts to the NBA level.
For Vassell, entering his seventh season, the backdrop is different after the Spurs recent run to the NBA Finals. He is no longer just one of the young pieces in the room, but a player expected to help guide the next wave, and Bryants development is part of that picture as San Antonio tries to build on its latest breakthrough. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Backcourt Debate Is Putting Devin Vassell In A Tough Spot
The Spurs are in the middle of a rotation puzzle that could shape how their backcourt looks going forward, with Stephon Castle, De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper all part of the discussion as the team weighs whether all three can share the floor in a starting role. However that shakes out, Devin Vassell has still emerged as one of the cleaner fits in the mix, thanks to the kind of off-ball gravity and shot-making that can keep an offense organized even when the guard alignment is still being sorted.
Vassell's value is not just in what he creates for himself, either. He averaged 13.9 points and 2.5 made threes per game in the 2025-26 season, and his efficient shooting helped keep him in a prominent offensive lane. For a Spurs team trying to balance talent, spacing and roles in the same backcourt, that makes Vassell one of the more important pieces to preserve as the conversation around the lineup continues. [Read more 🡒]