San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson calls a play during the second quarter of game five of the NBA Championship at Frost Bank Center on Saturday, June 13, 2026. With a bolstered roster that includes free agent addition Tobias Harris and first-round draft picks Tarris Reed Jr. and Jayden Quaintance, Johnson’s biggest challenge this season will be managing starting spots and lineup rotations.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
In four or five months, when things start to get as complicated as they often do for coaches with expectations and egos to manage, Mitch Johnson should remember to look at the bright side.
At least he won’t need to consult any helicopter schedules.
Article continues below this ad
Presumably, the Spurs’ highest-profile free-agent signing of the offseason plans to reside close enough to the team practice facility to drive there. Tobias Harris, unlike LeBron James, did not pick his new destination with a reported plan to commute via chopper from Manhattan.
And as long as Victor Wembanyama doesn’t intend to make appearances at Katy pick-up soccer games a regular thing? He shouldn’t require the services of a personal pilot, either.
But just because all of the Spurs’ multitalented multimillionaires all live in the same county doesn’t guarantee they’ll all stay on the same page. Even though Wembanyama volunteered to sign an extension for less than the supermax, and even though Harris volunteered to join a team with a loaded rotation, there are going to be times when not every person in the locker room is going to be thrilled with making a sacrifice.
That’s why Johnson’s biggest challenge after taking his team to the NBA Finals won’t be learning when to call a timeout. It will be standing in front of more good players than he can start every night and making sure he doesn’t lose anybody.
Article continues below this ad
One of the deepest teams in the NBA last season got even deeper over the past month, and this is what is known in Johnson’s business as a nice problem to have. Much like Philadelphia’s Nick Nurse doesn’t dare complain about the abundance of riches presented by the addition of Jaylen Brown and James’ helicopter to a team that already featured Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, Johnson isn’t going to engender much sympathy from his peers, either.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson yells instructions to Spurs players during the first half of game three of the NBA Championship at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Monday, June 8, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson high-fives San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) after a play during the second quarter of Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden in New York, Wednesday, June 10, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson shouts directions to San Antonio Spurs guard Stephon Castle (5) during the third quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Championship at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Friday, June 5, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson answers questions during a news conference at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Thursday, June 4, 2026, following a 105-95 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Mitch Johnson answers questions during a news conference at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, ahead of the NBA Finals series between the Spurs and the New York Knicks.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson gives instructions to San Antonio Spurs forward Carter Bryant (11) during the first quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Championship at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio on Friday, June 5, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson talks to forward Victor Wembanyama (1) during the first half of Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Minnesota Timberwolves at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, May 4, 2026.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
After all, how many coaches in the league would love to enter the season knowing that their biggest problem is potentially not having enough minutes for De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper? Go tell the guy in charge of the Sacramento Kings, for instance, that he might have to bring someone like Harris or Julian Champagnie or Devin Vassell off the bench.
In some places, that’d be cause for celebration.
Article continues below this ad
But even if it doesn’t look like it will be an issue now, it’s not impossible to envision a scenario in which Johnson needs to pull off a delicate balancing act. The locker room vibes were immaculate last season, as they often are on teams that win 62 games, and a couple of potential issues solved themselves.
There was a time when some wondered how Johnson would handle it when a veteran like Harrison Barnes eventually needed to be eased out of the starting lineup. As it turned out, an injury ended the veteran forward’s streak of 364 games played, and that took some of the awkwardness out of the transition.Â
As for the Harper-Fox dynamic? Both of them missed enough time with injury last season that both of them always seemed integral to what the team was doing when they were healthy.Â
And even if Harper came off the bench when the team was at full strength, he was a rookie, and the Spurs were winning. Rocking the boat would have been unthinkable.
Article continues below this ad
This isn’t to say that Harper is going to enter his second season with a different attitude, or that someone like Champagnie or Vassell won’t happily accept a move to the second unit, if that’s what’s best for the team.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson, from left, talks to guard Devin Vassell (24), guard Dylan Harper (2) and guard De’aaron Fox (4) during the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Monday, May 4, 2026. With the Spurs boasting an even deeper roster heading into the 2026-27 season, coach Mitch Johnson’s biggest challenge will be lineup decisions, including the division of playing time between Harper, Fox and Stephon Castle.
Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News
But managing situations like that, as much as anything else, is how an NBA coach earns his keep. As revered as Manu Ginobili was for thriving in his role as the Spurs’ sixth man, he never was ecstatic about it. And had the assignment been presented to him in a different way, by a coach with less credibility than Gregg Popovich had?
Who knows if it would have worked?
Article continues below this ad
Johnson, to his credit, thus far has operated like he understands all of this. When talking about his responsibilities to his team, the one he brings up most often is clarity, and that was a huge reason why the Spurs exceeded expectations the way they did on their way to the Finals.Â
He just needs to keep it up. Between now and the start of the regular season, he will sit down with each of the 17 or 18 players under contract and explain — as clearly and as specifically as possible — what he expects of them.
What he won’t be able to do is tell six or seven of them that he expects them to start. And if six or seven or eight of them want that, because they think they’ve deserved it? They won’t be wrong, necessarily.Â
So Johnson will have to make sure that each of them feels valued. He will have to make sure that if a rough stretch arrives, that idea of shared sacrifice doesn’t get lost. He will have to make sure the sense of clarity doesn’t change.
Article continues below this ad
And if he can manage that?
The timeouts will be easy.