The Spurs’ addition of Tobias Harris does more than patch a roster need. It also sharpens an uncomfortable question about Keldon Johnson’s place in San Antonio’s future.
Harris gives the Spurs another shooter and more depth at a spot that has been thin. That matters for a team that had real trouble knocking down threes at times last season. But the ripple effect could be just as important: Harris may make Johnson’s path to minutes even tighter.
Johnson, listed as a small forward, spent 16% of his minutes last season at power forward, which Basketball Reference puts at 307 minutes. With Harris in the mix, San Antonio should not need to lean on Johnson at the four anymore. That sounds like a cleaner fit for Johnson on paper, but it also cuts into the flexibility that helped keep him on the floor.
The bigger issue is that the minutes have to come from somewhere. Johnson played nearly 2000 minutes last season, all of them off the bench, but that workload could shrink. He was also credited with playing 22% of his minutes at shooting guard, and a bigger role for Dylan Harper would take another bite out of that space.
If Johnson no longer gets minutes at guard or power forward, he would be pushed almost entirely to small forward next season. That is his natural position, but it also puts him in direct competition with Devin Vassell, who is a key piece for this roster. Carter Bryant is also in the picture and is expected to get small but steady minutes.
That leaves Johnson squeezed from multiple directions.
If he had played only small forward last season, he would have averaged about 14.5 minutes, well below the 26.5 minutes he actually got. Even with that in mind, the expectation is still around 20 minutes a night next season. But the trend line is clear: his role is shrinking.
The Spurs also gave Julian Champagnie an extension and did not do the same for Johnson, which adds another layer to the situation. At this point, it is possible Johnson is heading into his final season in San Antonio.
The hope is that he can answer with a strong bounce-back year and help the Spurs chase a championship. Still, as the roster gets pricier and the need for size and shooting grows, Johnson is starting to look like the odd man out.
In Other News...
Spurs Just Sent A Clear Message With Their Riskiest Draft Bet
The Spurs have spent the last few years building real momentum around Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper, and the payoff has already been obvious in the form of a Finals trip. So when San Antonio went into the 2026 NBA Draft and used the No. 20 pick on Jayden Quaintance, it fit a pattern the front office has leaned into since the rebuild started to accelerate: keep chasing difference-makers, even when the safer route is sitting right there.
Quaintance is the sort of bet that tells you where the Spurs think they are in the cycle. He brings the kind of upside teams usually reserve for much earlier in the draft, but his college rsum is still thin enough to leave plenty of questions attached to the selection. For a franchise that has surged all the way to 62 wins and the Finals, the message is less about playing it safe and more about refusing to settle now that the foundation is in place. [Read more 🡒]
Tarris Reed Jr Is Already Giving The Spurs Something They Needed
The Spurs did not sit still on draft night when they went after Tarris Reed Jr. at No. 26, and the early returns are easy to notice. Reed has already been on the floor in summer league wearing silver and black, and his first impression has centered on the kind of interior presence San Antonio has been looking to add around its young core.
In one of those games, Reed flashed exactly why the Spurs were willing to move up for him, giving them activity on the glass and a physical edge in the paint. His size and strength stand out immediately, and if that carries over, he could become the sort of frontcourt weapon that changes how defenses have to deal with Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Fans Suddenly Have A Wild Wemby Question To Consider
Victor Wembanyama is now in the window where the Spurs can lock him into a rookie-scale extension that would put him among the leagues highest-paid young stars. The number attached to that deal is enormous, with incentives capable of pushing it even higher, which is exactly why any discussion around the contract immediately spills beyond simple bookkeeping and into the bigger picture of what San Antonio can build around its franchise centerpiece.
What makes this one worth watching is the idea that there may be some room for flexibility if Wembanyama chooses a path that echoes a recent star example from New York. For the Spurs, that kind of breathing room would not just be about easing the cap sheet in the abstract, but about keeping the door open to a far more ambitious pursuit down the line, one that would have every fan in the building paying attention to the next move. [Read more 🡒]