For opening night, at least, the San Antonio Spurs have answered the single biggest starting lineup question of the 2026-27 season. Dylan Harper, the No. 2 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and the second-best player in San Antonio's NBA Finals loss to the New York Knicks, will officially join the starting five alongside Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell... and De'Aaron Fox, the expensive veteran whose injured ankle and ensuing struggles loomed large over that Finals defeat. San Antonio barely used the three-guard lineup last season, and for good reason.
It was outscored significantly in both 54-possession regular-season and 83-possession postseason samples last year. The lineup outscored the Phoenix Suns by 10 points in 25 possessions in a recent preseason victory, but the Spurs shot just 2 of 9 on 3s when all three guards played together in that game. That is the primary concern here.
Harper, Fox and Castle are all strong drivers with questionable 3-point shots. Such players typically do best when surrounded by other shooters. The Spurs can get away with having two of them on the floor at once because their center, Victor Wembanyama, is game-breaking in dozens of ways, including his ability to space the floor.
San Antonio took off last season when it upgraded its shooting by inserting Julian Champagnie into the starting lineup. With all three guards playing together, though, the delicate balance between shooting and ball-handling has tilted too far toward the latter. Ball-handling doesn't have nearly the amplifying effect that shooting does, and opponents will inevitably cheat off of the two guards without the ball in their hands whenever one of them is trying to create shots with it.
The trio is so talented, and comes with the inherent advantage of playing with Wembanyama, that the Spurs will almost certainly win most of the games it plays with this starting lineup. But it's certainly suboptimal. We all know where this is probably heading.
Harper was simply too good to keep coming off of the bench, and Castle is too good to ever move there. Eventually, the best version of the Spurs likely has Fox, the oldest and most expensive of the three guards, coming off of the bench as Harper did a season ago. San Antonio's starters with Champagnie playing alongside two of the guards outscored opponents by 17.6 points per 100 possessions a season ago.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
