Tobias Harris did not arrive in San Antonio with much noise, but the Spurs may have landed one of the sneakiest additions of the offseason.
A 15-year veteran who has bounced through seven teams does not usually scream “difference-maker” for a contender. But Harris gives the Spurs something they badly needed, and something that could matter a lot more than the casual eye might catch: balance.
Last season, San Antonio was thin at power forward. This year, that group looks far more complete.
Julian Champagnie, Harris, Harrison Barnes and Carter Bryant can all factor into the rotation there, giving the Spurs four 6-8 players to work with, Harris included. The size is useful, but the bigger point is that the roster finally starts to make sense.
Harris also brings a different kind of value. He can hit 3s, work from midrange, score in the post and handle bigger defenders on the other end. For a Spurs team that needed more size and shooting, that combination fits cleanly.
He even mirrors Barnes in some ways. Barnes is the better shooter, while Harris brings more versatility as a scorer. And despite being well into a career that has already crossed 1,000 games, Harris still has more left in the tank.
The most interesting part might be how San Antonio uses him. If the Spurs deploy Harris the way this roster seems to invite, he could become a bench weapon in the mold of Rudy Gay from years ago. That would let the team keep its strongest group intact - the starting five of De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie and Victor Wembanyama, which was excellent last season.
That lineup should stay together. Harris, then, becomes a second-unit scorer.
That’s where a bench group of Dylan Harper, Keldon Johnson, Tobias Harris and Luke Kornet gets intriguing. If Harper is given the green light and allowed to play around 30 minutes per game off the bench, that group could do real damage.
Harris does not need to be a headline-grabbing addition to matter. A player who can walk into the second unit and give you 10 points in a variety of ways is valuable, especially for a Spurs bench that was largely outplayed in the playoffs, Harper aside.
San Antonio came painfully close to winning a championship last season. If Harris makes them even 5% better, that might be enough to tilt next year in their favor.
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Victor Wembanyama Is Already Becoming The Wests Ultimate Measuring Stick
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For San Antonio, that matters almost as much as any box score. Wembanyama is no longer just a rising talent to file away for the future, he is becoming a reference point for the West itself, the player other elite names now have to measure themselves against. If this is the early shape of a rivalry, it is one the Spurs will be happy to carry forward. [Read more 🡒]