'Good Problems': How Harper, Fox, and Castle Fit Together For Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — Before Media Day even started on Monday, the Spurs' star-studded backcourt generated headlines and fresh questions about how to manage this trio of talented guards.

The biggest question emerged on the horizon as soon as the Spurs jumped to the second-overall pick in 2025. Like most things that were on the horizon for the Spurs a year ago, they accelerated to it and arrived there much faster than anticipated. And after a rookie looked like one of the team's best players in the NBA Finals, the question only gets louder.

"Dylan Harper is incredible. How long can he come off the bench?"

The reporters assembled at the Victory Capital Performance Center on Monday surely would have asked about it in some form or fashion, but a GQ cover story about Harper and Castle published earlier in the morning added fuel to the fire.

The two good friends were joking around about Harper winning Sixth Man of the Year this season when writer Cam Wolf asked Harper if he really thought he'd come off the bench, leading to this exchange:

“What’s the political answer here?” Harper says, looking down at my recorder again. He calibrates his voice into its cheeriest pitch: “I’m going to do whatever the team needs me to do, man. If that’s come off the bench….”

He stops. “That’s crazy. F*** no. I ain’t coming off no bench.”

“Bro, all you got to know is you going to be in the starting lineup,” Castle says, ending the discussion. “Be ready to hoop.” (Later in the conversation, Harper walks the Sixth Man thing back: “I was lying,” he says. “I had a smile on my face.”)

Joking or not, saying that kind of thing out loud could fan the flames of a situation that presents a number of pain points. But that same story quotes coach Mitch Johnson correctly pointing out that he wants all of his players to want the biggest role, the most minutes, the toughest assignment. At the podium, Harper agreed and then gave the political answer.

"I feel like it's competitive nature," he said. "Everyone has a competitive edge to them. But the biggest thing for me is whatever I can do, just like last year, to help the team win, and whatever position that all the coaches think is best for me to be in, that's the position I'm happy in. Whatever happens this year, just know that ain't gonna be no bad, bad nothing for me. I'm always gonna stay positive. I'm always gonna be at the forefront of just keeping the team together."

San Antonio Spurs guards Stephon Castle (5) and Dylan Harper (2) pose for photos during Media Day. — Sep 28, 2026; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guards Stephon Castle (5) and Dylan Harper (2) pose for photos during Media Day at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Texas. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"It's just pretty much all outside noise for us," Castle said. "Whoever starts, whoever doesn't start, if we all start together, I think we'll be fine either way. We're three high-level guards that are pretty unselfish, that can touch the paint whenever. Being able to play off each other as much as we can, whether we have two of us on the court, three of us on the court, I think we'll figure it out and it'll continue to grow as it did last year."

Dylan Harper came into his draft as arguably the best guard prospect of the last five years, and on the biggest stage possible as a rookie he proved not just that he belongs, but that he's a serious problem for opponents to deal with. He should be confident, and he should want the biggest role and the most minutes and the toughest assignment.

But the thing that makes the Spurs so dangerous over the course of an 82-game regular season is their ability to spread the talent out and ensure that at any given time they have two (or more) star guards on the floor together. The math doesn't work unless one of the three comes off the bench.

"You have to have depth, and I feel like we're probably one of the deepest teams in NBA," Harper said. "So it only works for our advantage, and I feel like the problems we have are good problems, and I feel like we all get along, and the chemistry is there, so there isn't going to be any problems."

How the Puzzle Pieces Fit

The man who will be most responsible for managing this dynamic on and off the court is Mitch Johnson. At his second media day as the head coach of the Spurs, he reminisced about when this team had no expectations around it and said he'd much rather have the expectations. Similarly, he'd rather have too many great players than not enough.

"I think that we're very fortunate to have such a dynamic roster where you can really get creative in terms of the puzzle pieces and how you want to kind of build out the puzzle, I guess, is a metaphor I use quite a bit," Johnson said. "We saw it at times with the three guards."

Fox, Castle and Harper solidly round out the Spurs' top four players behind Wembanyama, and while it's logistically challenging to sustain, it has the potential to be a very important unit for this team in crunch time and in the postseason. In the regular season last year the guard trio only shared the floor for 25 minutes, but in the playoffs they logged 44 minutes together. The numbers weren't great in that small sample size, but the talent involved merits further exploration.

"I think it progressed a lot," Fox said. "I mean, I think that was a big reason why we were able to get to where we did. Obviously, us being a talented group and continuing to learn to play together, I think that we had some success whenever us three were on the court. And obviously, it didn't happen a lot, especially throughout the regular season. But I definitely expect to see it more, and for us to continue to grow in that aspect, just both offensively and defensively."

Sep 28, 2026; San Antonio, TX, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox (4) poses for photos during Media Day at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio, Texas. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Fox had a rough Finals, but he's coming off an All-Star season and has taken both Castle and Harper under his wings. Though he rejects the title of Unc, he's a tremendous veteran for his young teammates.

"I think there's definite growth for those three guys, just in terms of playing off each other and continuing to complement each other," Johnson added. "I think they're so dynamic and they're so unselfish, and so they do a great job of putting their energy in the right spots. Something that we alluded to a lot of times in the playoffs last year is just during the regular season, they didn't get a lot of opportunity to do it."

The opportunity part is a math problem. If all three of them start then it leaves the bench at a playmaking deficit. If all three of them play 32 minutes a game, then the Spurs can optimize the rotation by keeping two of them on the court at all times. It's tough to prioritize that balance and also find ways to get all three on the court together, but the end of a game is the perfect opportunity to do it without straining the rotation.

When it comes time to empty the tank, don't be surprised if all of San Antonio's most talented players to it together.

"Hopefully, they'll get some more opportunities this year to do that, to grow into that place where it's not just a play I call, it's more the chemistry that they get to get together on the floor together just by reps and by time," Johnson said. "I don't think there's really any other way to facilitate that other than time on court together. I see all three of them playing together... I don't know the definition of a lot more, but I think more than we did in the regular season for sure."

Three things can be true at once:

Dylan Harper will likely be an All-Star sooner rather than later.
The Spurs probably need him to come off the bench this year.
He can still have a huge role and impact on winning off the bench.

This won't be the last time the big question is asked, not until it's answered for good. Making this all work in the meantime will require hard work and ego death from everyone involved. And knowing how the Spurs operate, they'll put the team goal above all else.

"I'll try to win, and I'll be honest with everybody," Johnson said. "That's how we'll operate moving forward, and we'll expect everybody to be a good teammate on top of that, and operate the same way."

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