The San Antonio Spurs have made their opening-night call, and it points straight at the lineup debate that has hovered over the 2026-27 season before it even begins: Dylan Harper is starting.
That means the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft will be in the first five alongside Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell and De’Aaron Fox when the Spurs open the year. It is a huge nod to Harper, who was the second-best player in San Antonio's NBA Finals loss to the New York Knicks, but it also leaves Fox in an awkward spot after an injured ankle and the struggles that showed up in that Finals defeat.
The immediate issue is fit. San Antonio barely leaned on a three-guard look last season, and the results were ugly enough to explain why.
The lineup was outscored badly across both a 54-possession regular-season sample and an 83-possession postseason sample. Even in a recent preseason win over the Phoenix Suns, where that group finished plus-10 in 25 possessions, the shooting was still shaky - the Spurs hit just 2 of 9 from 3 while all three guards were on the floor together.
That is the tension here. Harper, Fox and Castle all thrive as drivers, but none of them brings a clean, reliable 3-point threat.
That usually works best when there are enough shooters around them to keep the floor honest. With Wembanyama in the mix, San Antonio can survive some of that imbalance because he changes everything on both ends and can space the floor himself.
Last season, the Spurs really started humming when they improved the shooting around him by moving Julian Champagnie into the starting lineup.
But when all three guards share the floor, the equation shifts too far toward ball-handling and not enough toward shooting. That matters because ball-handling does not bend a defense the way shooting does.
Defenders will happily sag off the two guards away from the ball and help wherever Fox, Harper or Castle is trying to create. The talent is obvious, and Wembanyama gives the group an enormous cushion, so the Spurs will probably still win plenty of those games.
It just does not look like the cleanest version of the team.
And that is where the long-term picture starts to come into focus. Harper looks too good to keep on the bench.
Castle looks too good to move there. That leaves Fox, the oldest and most expensive of the three guards, as the likeliest odd man out eventually.
The Spurs’ best lineup may be the one with Fox in a reserve role, the way Harper was a season ago. With Champagnie alongside two guards, San Antonio outscored opponents by 17.6 points per 100 possessions last season, a pretty clear blueprint for the kind of balance this roster wants.
Still, the Spurs are not forcing that decision right now. That is probably the prudent move.
Benching a reigning All-Star on a max contract is never simple, and Fox made it clear he wanted to be in San Antonio after pushing for a direct trade. He likely expected to arrive as the starting point guard on a team with big aspirations.
Asking him to come off the bench on opening night, after a Finals series shaped by injury and struggle, could create real friction and, at the very least, damage what remains of his trade value.
So for now, the Spurs are keeping the door open. Fox gets a chance to show the three-guard starting five can work.
If it does, the problem may shrink on its own. If it doesn’t, there will be data to back up a change, and the team can say it gave the idea a fair shot.
That kind of approach is not new. Russell Westbrook went through versions of it with both Los Angeles teams.
The Lakers benched him after an 0-3 start in the 2022-23 season. The Clippers started Westbrook and James Harden together for five games a year later, lost all five, and then went 27-7 in their next 34 after moving him to the bench.
Sometimes the short-term cost buys a cleaner answer later, and that at least gives the player the respect of a real attempt.
Of course, the Spurs are trying to solve this while chasing the kind of seeding that matters in the Western Conference. The Oklahoma City Thunder keep piling up 60-win seasons, and home-court advantage in the likely Western Conference Finals matchup between the two teams carries real weight, even after San Antonio’s road win a year ago.
But that same win was also a reminder of the bigger picture: what matters is not October or November. It is May and June.
For now, the Spurs are choosing Harper, choosing patience, and postponing the Fox question until the season forces their hand.
In Other News...
Spurs Rookies Are Forcing A Tough Rotation Call Already
Preseason has a way of speeding up the conversation around young players, and for San Antonio, Tarris Reed Jr., Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Maliq Brown have already made the coaching staff think a little harder about the early-season rotation. Reed has flashed the kind of rebounding and rim protection that can earn trust quickly, while Gillespie has brought enough three-point shooting and defense to look playable right away. Brown has also helped his case with defensive versatility and a smoother-looking shot.
None of the three is being talked about like a Rookie of the Year candidate, but that is hardly the point for a team trying to sort out useful minutes. The Spurs do not need every rookie to be a headline act, they need the ones who can fit cleanly into a bigger plan, and these three have at least made that decision less straightforward than it looked a few weeks ago. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Young Core Finally Gave Fans Something Real To Believe In
The final preseason tune-up gave San Antonio a cleaner look at what this group can be when the pieces start clicking. In a 126-97 win over Sacramento, the Spurs closed camp on a two-game winning streak, with Dylan Harper leading the scoring at 19 points and Victor Wembanyama adding 14 points and eight rebounds in just 17 minutes. The overall picture was even more encouraging than the box score: San Antonio controlled the glass from start to finish and spread the floor well enough to keep the Kings chasing all night.
For a fan base that has spent the last few seasons waiting for signs that the next version of the team is actually taking shape, those details matter. The Spurs 17 made threes and 63-38 rebounding edge suggested more than preseason energy, it hinted at a roster with real size, pace and shot-making potential. It is still October, and the tests only get tougher from here, but this was the kind of game that can make a young core feel less theoretical and a lot more real. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Just Sent A Clear Message About Their Young Core
The Spurs sent a pretty clear signal about where they want this thing to go by locking in the next step for Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper and Carter Bryant. Exercising Castles fourth-year option and the third-year options on Harper and Bryant guarantees their salaries for the 2027-28 season, and it keeps three recent draft picks on the same developmental track as San Antonio continues to build around its young talent.
Castle already has the Rookie of the Year hardware from 2024-25, Harper landed on the All-Rookie first team, and Bryant is expected to take another step in his second season. For a franchise that has made no secret of its long-term approach, this kind of roster housekeeping matters because it shows the Spurs are not just collecting prospects, they are committing to a core they believe can grow together. [Read more 🡒]