5 Burning Questions as Wembanyama, Spurs open camp

Call it the bravado of youth. Call it naivete. Call it nothing but confidence.

Not long after the Spurs made Dylan Harper the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft in June, the 19-year-old guard reset expectations for silver-and-black aficionados everywhere.

“We’re going to make the playoffs,” Harper told reporters at his introductory news conference in San Antonio.

Considering the Spurs have not qualified for the postseason since 2019 – when Harper was barely a teenager – that guarantee constitutes quite the called shot.

Yet it might not be all that far-fetched.

With star-of-the-world Victor Wembanyama set to return from a blood clot issue that brought premature end to his second NBA season, All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox likewise healthy and primed for a full season as the Frenchman’s sidekick and a rapidly improving youthful core that includes reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, the Spurs will enter the season closer to contending for the playoffs than they have been in a half dozen years.

Having undergone surgery in September to repair a torn ligament on the thumb of his left (shooting) hand, Harper will have to wait to join the fray. The club has ruled Harper out for the duration of training camp, but the team remains optimistic he will not miss much, if any, of the regular season.

Harper’s status is one of the many storylines worth monitoring as the Spurs open camp this week, with media day slated for Monday and the first practice on tap Tuesday.

Here are five others:

1. How soon is Wemby back to being Wemby?

Wembanyama hasn’t set foot on an NBA floor since his Feb. 16 appearance at the All-Star tournament in San Francisco, marking the longest basketball layoff of the 21-year-old’s life.

Whether the hiatus caused by his deep vein thrombosis diagnosis will be a curse or a blessing for Wembanyama remains to be seen.

The San Antonio SpursÕ Victor Wembanyama performs a dunk for an audience of students at Ingram Tom Moore High School in Ingram on Wednesday, September 10, 2025. The Spurs put on a community event for the students of the middle and high schools to show support in the months after the deadly July 4 flood in Kerr County. (Christopher Lee/Staff Photographer)

Since being drafted No. 1 overall in June of 2023, Wembanyama has been on a hoops treadmill that took him from the French League playoffs to his rookie NBA season to the 2024 Paris Olympics to the midway point of his second NBA campaign without passing “Go.”

His body certainly benefited from the extended time off, even if a bit of rust might be expected at the outset of this week’s training camp.

At the time of his forced shutdown last February, Wembanyama was steamrolling toward a sure-fire NBA Defensive Player of the Year and All-NBA nod.

Assuming Wembanyama finds his rhythm sooner rather than later this fall, those goals – and more — remain in his 7-foot-4 sights in 2025-26.

His connection with Fox will be something to monitor early in the preseason. The pair only appeared in five games together after Fox arrived from Sacramento last February.

2. Will new blood on the coaching staff infuse camp with a different feel?

The last time the Spurs opened training camp without Gregg Popovich as head coach, Bill Clinton was president and the Dallas Cowboys were Super Bowl champions.

That was in October 1996.

Longtime assistant Mitch Johnson took over from Popovich five games into last season, following the Hall of Famer’s stroke. As acting coach, Johnson did an admirable job holding the ship together en route to a 34-48 finish.

This season, the Spurs are unequivocally the 39-year-old Johnson’s boat to captain.

The organization has done its part to set Johnson up for success, juicing up the coaching staff with the addition of an associate head coach, highly regarded defensive guru Sean Sweeney, as well as new assistants Sean King and Corliss Williamson.

That group will team with holdover assistant coach Matt Neilsen to round out Johnson’s bench.

Tim Martin, a noted development savant who worked with Wembanyama before either were employed by the Spurs, joined the staff as well.

Brett Brown, who came back to San Antonio in 2022 to serve alongside Popovich on the bench, has transitioned to a front office consultant role.

Coaching staffs need to gain chemistry too, and training camp will be a crucial time for that for the Spurs’ reconfigured group.

Nevertheless, don’t expect Johnson to stray too far from the principles and values Popovich instilled in nearly three decades as the team’s coach and moral compass.

Dylan Harper #2 of San Antonio Spurs attacks the basket against Elijah Harkless #16 of Utah Jazz during 2025 NBA Summer League game between the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 14, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)

3. How will Spurs’ ball-handlers handle Harper’s early absence?

Even if Harper is cleared for the start of the regular season, he is likely to be eased into the team’s every-night rotation. Until the rookie is completely up to speed, the Spurs will face a dearth of ball-handlers.

Fox is slated as the starting point guard, with Castle the favorite to start next to him off the ball. After that, the Spurs’ roster is somewhat short on point guard types.

Johnson could choose to shift Castle to the bench to start the season, sifting his top two ball-handlers onto distinct units, or start them together and stagger their minutes throughout the game. Either way, expect veteran point guard Jordan McLaughlin to see more second-team reps than he otherwise might.

A year ago at this time, the Spurs had more ball-handlers than they could use. Four guards off last season’s opening day roster are no longer with the team – Chris Paul, Tre Jones, Malaki Branham and Blake Wesley.

Given Harper’s untimely injury, Johnson will need to patch together a guard rotation with duct tape for at least a little while.

4. Is the opening-night starting five etched in stone?

Probably, depending on how Johnson intends to answer the above question about his guards.

Assuming Castle sticks with the starters, expect him to team with Fox at point guard, Devin Vassell at the other wing, power forward Harrison Barnes at power forward and Wembanyama at center when the Spurs tip off the season Oct. 22 at Dallas.

There might be room for tweaks as the season goes along. Julian Champagnie might give the Spurs’ starters a bit more 3-point shooting. Jeremy Sochan might imbue the unit with an extra dose of defensive toughness. Once healthy, Harper might challenge for a starting job.

For now, however, the aforementioned five remains the best bet to start the season.

Former San Antonio Spurs player David Robinson presents the 2024-2025 KIA NBA Rookie of the Year trophy to Stephon Castle during a small ceremony at Victory Capital Performance Center in San Antonio on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News)

5. How quickly can other veteran newcomers crash the party?

The front office made offseason strides toward addressing one of the roster’s biggest weaknesses last season – namely, a decided lack of big-man depth behind Wembanyama.

The Spurs’ two most prominent additions – the 7-2 Luke Kornet and 6-11 Kelly Olynyk – should have little trouble finding their fit.

Kornet, 30, was a rugged contributor on playoff teams in Boston, and remains one of the NBA’s most underrated rim defenders and pick-and-roll players. Olynyk, a 34-year-old journeyman who split last season between Toronto and New Orleans, is a floor-spreading big man with a 3-point shot.

Both players should find steady work whenever Wembanyama is off the floor, and could occasionally find themselves in lineups next to the All-Star.

For Johnson, the preseason and training camp will provide fertile ground for tinkering with the new toys on his bench.

5 Burning Questions as Wembanyama, Spurs open camp

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