The San Antonio Spurs are only three games into the season, and Keldon Johnson already looks like a player whose role needs trimming.
Johnson is in his eighth year with the team and in the final season of his contract, which naturally adds pressure to every night he’s on the floor. He came into the year slimmer, but the early returns have looked a lot like the same old issues that showed up in the playoffs. Against the Oklahoma City Thunder, his defense was put under the microscope, especially his tendency to foul when the opponent is in the bonus.
The problems haven’t stopped there. In games against the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks, his lack of spacing has stood out. Even after shooting well from three last season and in the playoffs, defenders still don’t seem to respect him much, and his slow release makes it easier for them to recover.
That’s the bigger issue for San Antonio. Johnson can be energetic, and he has done the dirty work with offensive rebounds and loose-ball hustle, but the Spurs need more shooting and more size. Right now, he doesn’t supply enough of either.
The fit gets even tighter once Tobias Harris makes his Spurs debut. At that point, San Antonio should strongly consider cutting back Johnson’s minutes.
His current role already feels squeezed by the lineup change that has the Spurs starting four guards, with Devin Vassell at power forward. That shift has pushed both Julian Champagnie and Harris to the bench, which wasn’t the original plan.
There are still a few ways the Spurs could use Johnson, but none of them scream heavy minutes. They could go with three forwards and a center alongside one of their three point guards, though that looks unlikely. A group with Dylan Harper, De'Aaron Fox, or Stephon Castle paired with Johnson, Champagnie, Harris, and Luke Kornet would leave the floor looking pretty cramped.
Johnson can still serve as an energy piece, and he can help when Harris or Champagnie miss time. But he probably shouldn’t be anywhere near 20 minutes a night. And based on the first three games, there’s been little evidence that he’s taken a meaningful step forward over the summer.
Harris still doesn’t have a return date, so Johnson will get more chances to make his case. Even so, what he’s shown so far hasn’t changed the conversation.
In Other News...
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The timing is what makes it interesting for the Spurs, because Oklahoma City entered the week unbeaten at 3-0 and looked like one of the leagues early standard-bearers. With no official diagnosis yet for Williams as of Sunday night, the bigger picture in the West remains cloudy, but San Antonio at least found itself on the right side of a market move that says plenty about how quickly the balance can feel like it is changing. [Read more 🡒]
Jeremy Sochan Faces A Tough New Reality After Spurs Run
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Sochan had signed a one-year deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, only to be waived before the regular season, which made the G League route a necessary next step rather than a detour. Even so, both the Texas Legends and the Dallas Mavericks organization have signaled belief in what he can still become, leaving his next move as one of the more interesting subplots around his career. [Read more 🡒]
Victor Wembanyama Keeps Proving The 2023 Draft Was No Debate
The 2023 draft class has been measured against Victor Wembanyama ever since the night San Antonio landed the first pick, and the comparison has only gotten starker as the league has moved on. Portlands decision not to reach a rookie extension with Scoot Henderson before the deadline adds another note to that conversation, because Henderson was taken third that year and now heads toward restricted free agency next summer after the Blazers and their young guard couldnt come to terms.
Wembanyama, meanwhile, just reinforced the gap on a much bigger stage. In the 2026 playoffs, he and Henderson met in the first round, and the Spurs star led San Antonio to a series win with the kind of individual impact that keeps separating him from his classmates. Around the league, other members of that draft have had moments, but none have touched the level Wembanyama is already bringing to a postseason series. [Read more 🡒]