Preseason is about to answer a lot of questions for Mitch Johnson, but one of the biggest may already have a clear shape: if the Spurs open with a three-guard lineup, Julian Champagnie looks like the fifth man.
That’s where the fit starts to make sense. San Antonio’s guards are still more drivers than pure shooters, which means spacing has to do some heavy lifting.
Champagnie gives that group more room to breathe. He shot 38.4% from three last season, playoffs included, just ahead of Devin Vassell at 38.1%, but the bigger edge is where those makes came from.
Champagnie was above 37% from three different spots: the left corner at 42%, the left wing at 39.2%, and the right wing at 38.9%. Those three areas accounted for 75% of his three-point attempts.
Vassell, by contrast, has two dependable zones - the right wing and the right corner - and both sat at 40.8%. Those spots made up exactly half of his threes.
The other half came from areas where he didn’t clear a 37% clip.
That matters in a lineup built around multiple drivers. A spacer doesn’t get to choose his comfort zone once the defense collapses.
If a defender shades toward Vassell, both of his most reliable looks on the right side can disappear at once. Champagnie’s best zones stretch across both sides of the floor, which makes him a cleaner fit for that kind of setup.
This isn’t really about De’Aaron Fox. That’s the wrong player to attach this discussion to.
Fox is on a max deal through 2029-30, and the Spurs have said publicly and privately that he’s not available. The ripple effect of promoting Dylan Harper isn’t Fox losing his spot.
It’s Vassell.
That part is hard to ignore. After the season and playoff run Vassell just had, the idea of sending him to the bench feels wild.
It gets even harder to picture when you remember he’s the second-highest-paid player on the team at $27.5 million. But that’s where the numbers seem to be heading.
San Antonio is hard-capped at the first apron with about $7.5 million of room, so there isn’t some clean accounting trick waiting to solve the crowding. The minutes have to come from somewhere, and the math points toward Vassell.
There’s at least a silver lining for the second unit. Harper was the engine of that group, responsible for 28% of its scoring, and he was the only reserve who averaged more than eight points in the playoffs. Moving him up into the starting group takes away the thing that made the bench work so well.
That means Tobias Harris and Vassell would have to help recreate that production, with more three-point volume as part of the answer. Vassell alone attempted 6.4 threes per game, which is about half of what the entire Spurs bench launched. The bench’s biggest weakness was already the exact area Vassell helps fix.
Even if Johnson starts all three major guards, he’ll still have to make sure one of them is on the floor at all times. From there, he can mix in Dev, Harris, Carter Bryant, Keldon Johnson, Luke Kornet, and/or Tarris Reed Jr. and keep building lineups that look a lot like a starting five.
In Other News...
Spurs May Already Have A De'Aaron Fox Problem To Solve
DeAaron Fox has only just become part of the Spurs long-term conversation, but the fit may already be complicated enough to matter. San Antonio has younger players projected as the heart of the roster, which makes Fox more of a luxury than a must-keep centerpiece, especially given how much the guard costs against the cap.
An expansion draft a couple of seasons down the road could create a rare kind of flexibility for the Spurs if they decide they would rather move forward without that commitment. Fox will also have time to reshape the conversation by improving his play and, by extension, his trade value, which leaves San Antonio with a decision that could become a lot clearer or a lot trickier depending on how the next few years unfold. [Read more 🡒]
JJ Redick Just Gave The Spurs A Contender Reality Check
As the Spurs continue to get mentioned in the same breath as the leagues rising contenders, the attention around San Antonio is only growing. Victor Wembanyama, Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell are part of a group that has the franchise leaning into bigger goals, with championship talk and individual awards now part of the conversation around what this team could become.
JJ Redicks latest comments offered a different kind of reminder from a contender in the West: the Lakers are not spending much time worrying about where San Antonio fits in the bigger picture. Instead, Los Angeles is focused on its own path, pointing to roster improvements built around Luka Doncic on offense and Walker Kesslers presence to help on the glass and at the defensive end. For the Spurs, the challenge is the same one that comes with any rising team, proving the buzz matches the reality. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Still Have One Rival They Havent Caught Yet
For a franchise that has spent decades building a standard of consistency, there is still one familiar measuring stick sitting just out of reach. The Lakers remain the one regular-season opponent that has given San Antonio more trouble than anyone else over the long haul, a quirk that stands out even in a rivalry filled with big playoff moments and memorable Spurs wins.
There is still time for that to change this season, with three games left against Los Angeles and a chance to flip the series in San Antonio's favor if everything breaks right. The matchup looks different now, too, with the Lakers roster having gone through changes that include LeBron James moving on to Philadelphia, leaving the Spurs to chase a piece of history against a version of the rivalry that keeps evolving. [Read more 🡒]