Stephon Castle may be the Spurs player getting lost in all the De'Aaron Fox-Dylan Harper noise.
That debate has dominated the offseason for San Antonio fans and plenty of other observers, especially after NBA 2K27 tossed fresh fuel on the fire. Fox is widely expected to keep his starting spot after the team reportedly backed its point guard, but the conversation around Harper hasn’t gone away.
And that’s where Castle comes in.
San Antonio isn’t trying to develop just one young guard. Castle is already there, he was drafted before Harper, and he has shown superstar potential of his own. The Spurs have seen enough to know that putting the ball in his hands helps the offense, even if the criticism keeps coming.
There’s still a learning curve, though. Castle is figuring out how to run an NBA offense, and that comes with mistakes.
If the Spurs started both young guards together, those growing pains would likely show up even more often. Staggering them makes sense as a way to smooth out some of that inexperience.
The idea is simple: let Steph open possessions as the primary playmaker with a veteran guard helping steady things, then bring Harper in as the slashing, downhill scoring threat off the bench. Even in that role, Harper would still have the ball plenty, instead of constantly deferring to Castle and Victor Wembanyama.
That setup also doesn’t shut Harper out from the other two members of the Spurs’ new Big 3. He’d still get his share of minutes alongside them over the course of a game. For now, Mitch Johnson appears to be handling the balance well, trying to win while also developing his young guards without letting them crowd one another.
That’s the tradeoff - and the luxury - of a roster this deep. Somebody talented is going to come off the bench.
In San Antonio’s case, that’s not a punishment. It’s the kind of problem most teams would love to have.
In Other News...
P.J. Washington Trade Buzz Puts Mavericks Forward Situation In Focus
The Spurs are weighing a familiar kind of deadline question: whether to keep most of their roster intact or use the market to find a cleaner fit around what they already have. In that conversation, Dallas forward P.J. Washington has surfaced as a player who would make sense for San Antonio because he brings defensive versatility and enough shooting to help a team looking to raise its level without blowing up its structure.
One proposed framework has Washington coming back in a deal centered on Harrison Barnes, which gives the idea some texture even if nothing official has been reported. For the Spurs, the appeal is obvious, but so is the caution, since deadline talks often begin with the kind of match that looks simple on paper and then gets complicated once teams start asking what the real price should be. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Young Core Is Earning Attention Behind Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama already sits at the center of everything the Spurs are building, but the rest of the young core is starting to draw real attention of its own. A Bleacher Report projection that looked ahead to 2030 pegged Wembanyama as the leagues top player, while also slotting Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper into the mix as rising talents whose development will matter just as much to San Antonios long-term picture.
Castle came in at No. 27 and Harper at No. 15 in that projection, a sign that both are being viewed as more than supporting pieces even if neither is expected to match Wembanyamas franchise-player ceiling. The Spurs can live with that distinction, because the bigger question is how much each can sharpen the rough edges in their games and turn promise into dependable production around the player who changes the ceiling for everyone else. [Read more 🡒]
Dylan Harpers Rise Just Turned Up A Real Spurs Debate
Dylan Harpers rookie year already had people in San Antonio talking about how quickly he was climbing, and now the conversation has spilled into a different lane entirely. In the upcoming NBA 2K27 game, Harper has been rated 85 overall, a number that places him ahead of some established names and underscores how much his stock has risen after a strong postseason showing.
For the Spurs, the rating is less about a video game number than what it hints at heading into the next season: a young player who may already be pushing into a bigger role sooner than expected. Harpers playoff line of 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists on 52.5% shooting only adds to the sense that his development is moving fast, and with NBA 2K27 set to release soon, the debate around where he belongs in the pecking order is only getting louder. [Read more 🡒]