Five days ago, the idea sounded bold: start Dylan Harper over an actual forward and let San Antonio’s best players sort out the rest. That case still has some life in it. But after watching Victor Wembanyama get swallowed up in a 1-13 shooting night with half of Oklahoma City crowding his space, the Spurs have a bigger problem than lineup aesthetics.
Harper’s opening-night line - 18 points - was not the issue. The real question is what happens to Wembanyama when San Antonio adds one more ball-handler to a group that already has plenty of them. If Tuesday was any sign, there may be a lot more nights like that before this setup ever settles in.
The cleaner fix might be the simplest one: Harper should go back to the bench.
That would not be a punishment. It would be a way to get San Antonio’s balance back.
The Spurs’ second unit was outscored 48-29 last night, and that gap is too big to shrug off. Tobias Harris returning should help stabilize things, but Harper was the driver of that bench last season, and he fit there beautifully on a team that already had a strong starting five.
The numbers from last year make the case pretty plainly. The Rutgers product played 69 games, started four, averaged 12 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, and landed on the All-Rookie First Team.
In the playoffs, he took another jump to 14, 6, and 3. Against the Thunder in his first career playoff start, he put up 24 points, 11 rebounds, seven steals, and six assists in double overtime at 20 years old.
And this is the part that matters: “bench” does not mean downgrade. Keldon Johnson won Sixth Man of the Year on this exact roster last season, and Harper was positioned to be the favorite for that award this year if he stayed with the second unit. He can still play 28-30 minutes a game from there and still matter plenty.
The spacing issue is where this starts to get real. Harper did not take his first shot until more than three minutes into the game, and that kind of delay can happen when there are too many creators sharing one floor.
Between Harper, De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, and Victor Wembanyama, somebody is going to get squeezed for stretches. Harper gets squeezed less if he’s running his own group.
That matters because Wembanyama is the one who needs the room. Opponents are going to pack the paint against him all season, just like Oklahoma City did, and they will keep doing it until Fox, Castle, and Harper make them pay often enough to change the scouting report. Even then, those guards all want to attack downhill, and good teams will keep trying to take that away.
So the Spurs are left with a simple tradeoff: more guard traffic, or more space for Victor. One way to solve it is to pull out the third guard defenses are happy to leave open and replace him with a shooter who gives Wembanyama another foot to work with. Swipa was one of the few bright spots last night, and if he really is all the way back, then he and Castle can handle that first unit while the floor opens up around Wemby.
Last season’s guard pairings worked. Fox and Castle were a plus-9.4.
Harper and Castle were a plus-11.0. Fox and Harper were a plus-6.2.
Put any two of the three together and things looked good. Put all three on the floor in 2025-26, and it has already gone sideways.
The Spurs seem to be fixing something that was never broken.
It’s fair to point out that much of this same argument could be made for Fox, but that’s a harder move to sell when he is an All-Star in the first year of a max contract. That possibility is exactly why some will jump straight to the idea that San Antonio should trade the former Kings guard.
For now, though, the cleaner answer is to ask Harper to wait one more season. He’s 20. The spot is not going anywhere.
In Other News...
Wembanyamas Opening Night Struggles Have Spurs Fans Debating One Thing
Victor Wembanyamas start to the 2026-27 season has already sparked plenty of conversation in San Antonio, and his first half against the Oklahoma City Thunder only added fuel to it. Through the opening two quarters, he had eight points without making a field goal, while the Spurs were forced to chase the game as the Thunder controlled the flow and carried an 80-70 lead midway through the third quarter.
For Spurs fans, the bigger issue has been less about one rough stretch than what it says about how the offense is functioning around him. The frustration has been obvious, with concern building over both Wembanyamas performance and the teams approach when the game starts to get away from them, and this matchup is already shaping up as an early test of how quickly San Antonio can settle in around its franchise center. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Showed Fight Against OKC But One Debate Just Got Louder
The Spurs had the kind of season opener that can leave a team feeling both encouraged and annoyed. They hung around with Oklahoma City through a game that featured multiple lead changes, physical stretches and a handful of defensive plays worth circling, even if the Thunder ultimately pulled away for a 116-104 win. The return of Jalen Williams gave Oklahoma City another layer, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jared McCain helped steady the visitors when the game tightened.
For San Antonio, the bigger takeaway may be less about the final margin and more about how sharply the matchup sharpened the conversation around Victor Wembanyama. His back-and-forth on the defensive end with Chet Holmgren produced the kind of moments that fuel a rivalry debate, and the altercation involving DeAaron Fox only added to the edge. The Spurs showed they can match intensity, but they also left with one familiar question getting louder after a night when the other side handled the biggest moments better. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama Sounds Off After Spurs Let Thunder Set The Tone
The Spurs opened the season with a loss to the Thunder, and Victor Wembanyama did not hide his frustration afterward. San Antonio fell 116-104 in a game that quickly tilted toward Oklahoma City, even as Wembanyama still found ways to make his presence felt with 13 rebounds and six blocks. His shot never came around, though, as he managed just 12 points on 1-of-13 shooting in a start that left plenty of room for the Spurs to clean up.
What stood out most from Wembanyamas postgame assessment was how plainly he pointed to the issues that let the Thunder set the tone. He cited defensive miscommunication and poor closeouts, the kind of lapses that can snowball early in a season when rotations are still being sorted out. For San Antonio, the loss was more than one rough night from its franchise center - it was a reminder that the details have to sharpen up fast if the Spurs want to avoid letting opponents dictate the pace from the opening tip. [Read more 🡒]