5 Instant Overreactions to Wemby, Harper and More in Spurs' Preseason Opener

SAN ANTONIO — Sure it's the preseason, and yeah, it's way too early to say anything definitive about the Spurs, but why should that stop us?

The 123-116 loss to the visiting Hawks means absolutely nothing as a result after the starters rested the second half, but it did show us quite a bit about how the Spurs plan to play their game this year. After San Antonio's first semi-competitive basketball game in about four months, here are some instant reactions that are both outlandish and absolutely correct.

1. Victor Wembanyama Will Be MVP

Easy, obvious, court dismissed, bring in the dancing lobsters. I've seen enough, Victor Wembanyama will be the 2026-27 NBA Kia MVP.

After finishing third in the voting last year and watching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander take home the hardware last year, Wemby enters this season as the favorite to win. None of this information is new.

What is new is a trend that first popped up in the scrimmage and continued in all of Wembanyama's time on the floor against the Hawks. He's always played with incredible guard skills for a big man, but he seems to a taking it to a new level.

"I worked a lot, and I also worked on seeing more things and slowing the game down," Wembanyama said. "For me the challenge is always putting everything together because I've learned so many things, and I always step into the game, trying to apply some things. But I think the main thing is if I assess early, continuously, that's when I can start putting everything together."

An incredible amount of San Antonio's offense started with Wembanyama in the pick and roll, not as the screener but as the ballhandler. With all the talk in the offseason about him finding a go-to shot and working on his self creation, it looks like he's been in the lab working on just that. His nastiest bucket of the game came when he jabbed over a screen, crossed over twice, put Onyeka Okongwu's ankles in his back pocket, and swished a stepback triple.

Wemby 7’5” taking ankles and drilling stepbacks he is NOT normal pic.twitter.com/wo1Ar5ibd5
— Tom Petrini (@RealTomPetrini) October 9, 2026

Wembanyama doesn't need to do anything nearly that artful to create advantages for his team as a dribbler. Any time he puts the ball on the floor looking to attack, and especially if a teammate sets a screen, it puts the defense under a tremendous amount of pressure.

"He proposes a unique dilemma for a lot of teams when he plays with the ball in his hands that high on the floor, just because of the uniqueness of the action," Mitch Johnson said after the game. "He's gotten a lot better at seeing where his reads are, advantages are, depending on how the defense guards him. And we've gotten better and need to be a lot better than we were at times tonight, but of spacing around him and playing off that, where we should be able to have a advantage based on that if we're in the right spots."

If there was one knock on Wembanyama's case last year outside of playing time, it's that he has talented teammates who are fantastic at setting him up. If he's more in the middle of everything San Antonio does offensively this year on top of his other-worldly defense, his case for MVP gets that much more undeniable.

2. Dylan Harper Must Start

Before the game Mitch Johnson announced that Dylan Harper would start this game alongside De'Aaron Fox, Steph Castle, Devin Vassell and Wembanyama. Fox wound up being a late scratch due to soreness, delaying the debut of the three-guard lineup for now. But Harper's play reminds us why the Spurs would want to try the unorthodox look, and he's just so dang good they might not have a choice in the matter.

Harper led all scorers in the first half with 16 points, four assists and four rebounds across 19 minutes of play. He shot 3-5 from deep to lead the team. As always, he looked way bigger and stronger and smoother than most players period, let alone at the age of 20.

Chef Dylan was cookin' in the first half!

📊 16 PTS, 4 REB, 4 AST pic.twitter.com/TqRN3Hfjsm
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) October 9, 2026

There are plenty of valid reasons that the Spurs might prefer to keep Harper coming off the bench, but the more he plays the less important they all seem. It'll throw off the rest of the rotation? Yeah, probably, sounds like something Mitch Johnson will have to figure out. But what about the spacing? Eh, Harper shot like 50% from deep in the back half of last season and Castle improved there as well.

"He's shown improvement since the start of his rookie year, just in terms of whether it's the consistency of the mechanics or the percentages themselves," Johnson said after the game. "The young man has quite a bit of talent, and he has a high level work ethic. So I think he'll just be more about finding his spots and what are his shots and his opportunities in our offense and with the team, and continue to have that pattern of recognition where the game will just slow down for him."

We still need to see the guard trio together, and there will obviously be kinks to work out, but more and more it seems the Spurs are committed to exploring the possibilities as much as they can. It looks like the time has already come to answer the question of when will Dylan Harper start for the Spurs.

"I think all three of us gonna be hard to guard, and there's gonna be a whole lot of mismatches on the floor," Harper said. "We're all unselfish, and we all understand where we're gonna get our shots from. We understand what we all have to do to win."

3. Vassell Clearly Best of the Rest

The main reason to make it work with Fox, Harper, Castle and Wembanyama is to keep the Spurs' four best players on the court at the same time. So what about the fifth?

Right now among the healthy players, it's clear that the guy who completes that top five is Devin Vassell. His floor spacing and size on the wing are crucial compliments alongside the downhill creation, and he's got enough juice off the dribble to get to his own spot when needed.

A draft and development darling and one of the longest-tenured Spurs, Vassell is a crucial piece for this team and solidified that over the course of the playoffs. He's a great fit and an underrated, under-the-radar talent. It's easy to sleep on a team's fifth-best guy, but Vassell would be higher in the pecking order on almost every other team.

4. 20-Point Leads Will Be Normal

The Spurs boat raced Atlanta in the opening quarter, jumping out to a 20-point lead with relentless pace and force on both ends of the floor. The Hawks are probably not a great matchup for the Spurs, but not a lot of teams are.

One of the marks of a truly great team is the ability to dominate, and San Antonio should do that to a lot of opponents this year. A 20-point advantage feels more appropriate for this squad than any deficit.

5. Stage Lighting is a Mood

The Spurs' game operations crew made a big adjustment, and it looks awesome. Instead of illuminating the whole arena, the lights now focus on the court and leave the crowd dim when the game is going on.

It's a theatrical presentation that makes it feel more like a concert or play when you're in the building, and the court pops off the TV screen. A few other arenas in the league use this style, and it lends a certain gravitas that feels appropriate for Spurs game this year.

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