Who Will Start for the Spurs? Why two lineup spots remain up for grabs

When it comes to predicting the five starters coach Mitch Johnson will roll out for the Spurs’ preseason opener Thursday against Atlanta, Julian Champagnie has one stone-cold lock.

There will be five of them.

Most everything else, Champagnie said, is TBD – and could stay that way for a while.

“I don’t think it matters,” said Champagnie, who may or may not begin the season as a starting forward. “We can have the same starting lineup all year or we could have five different ones. To me it doesn’t matter.”

As the Spurs build toward their Oct. 20 season opener against Oklahoma City, the identity of their starting five remains at least partially unsettled.

All-Star center Victor Wembanyama, All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox and rising backcourt star Stephon Castle are cemented into the opening group. The other two spots appear up for grabs.

“We just want to win,” said forward Keldon Johnson, the NBA’s reigning Sixth Man of the Year. “We’re a pretty tight group. And whether it’s starting or coming off the bench, our main objective is to win as many games as possible.”

Thursday night’s exhibition at the Frost Bank Center – which doubles as a homecoming for former Brennan High star and Hawks first-round pick Kingston Flemings – might not shed much light on Johnson’s long-term plans.

The coach has not yet revealed how many of his regulars will be available to face Atlanta.

One prominent piece of the lineup jigsaw – 34-year-old forward Tobias Harris – has been ruled out for the entire preseason with a left calf strain. If the Spurs’ prized free-agent acquisition is indeed ticketed for a starting job, fans might not find out until the games start counting.

San Antonio Spurs Spurs’ Dylan Harper cheers with the crowd after watching the rookies perform karaoke at the Silver & Black Scrimmage at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (Sam Owens/San Antonio Express-News)

With Harris sidelined, it is likely Champagnie would reprise the starting role he held down in the back half last season – at least for now.

“I trust in coach,” Champagnie said. “Whatever he needs me to do is what I’m going to do. Whatever the team needs me to do is where I’m going to be at.”

For Johnson, however, the more pressing preseason puzzle is in the backcourt, where three talented players are all competing for the same minutes.

Fox and Castle are returning starters. Dylan Harper, a 20-year-old wunderkind primed to take the NBA by storm as a sophomore, has earned an elevated role as well.

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Johnson has pledged to find ways for all three to share the court more often this season.

At least publicly, the coach has stopped short of pledging to start all three together. Neither has he ruled that out, however.

“We just have to get more hours of on-the-job training and continue to see and feel what works and compliments each other,” Johnson said. “But they’re pretty talented and they’re good guys, so I don’t have too much concern.”

For most teams coming off an NBA Finals appearance and returning nearly their entire roster, the question of who starts would barely qualify as a question.

For the Spurs, it is.

The group of Fox, Castle, Wembanyama, Champagnie and Devin Vassell went 21-3 over the final 24 games last season, posting the NBA’s best net rating after the All-Star break.

MORE SPURS: Why Spurs’ Julian Champagnie isn’t worried about his role

Then came Harper’s NBA Finals performance. Then came Harris.

Two new variables, one familiar math problem. There are only five starting spots.

For Harper and (eventually) Harris to crack the opening group, Johnson would have to move 40% of last season’s starting five to the second unit.

Whatever the final configuration of the starting five, Johnson’s expectations are the same for everyone – starters and reserves alike.

“Their job is to do what’s asked of them,” Johnson said. “And in that, there is competitiveness and aspirations to take the shots, play the minutes — and that’s okay. That’s what I want.”

Johnson knows there will be disappointment no matter what decisions he makes.

His hope is that the players who feel slighted do something productive with their pique.

“I hope they take that frustration at times and anger and channel it in the right way,” Johnson said. “If someone plays less minutes, then that means they should have more energy to take it out on the court.”

At least one player whose role hangs in the balance is glad he is not paid to make those kinds of high-paygrade calls.

“It’s not my job to figure out who’s starting, who’s not starting,” Champagnie said. “I think as players we’re all focused on just one thing and that’s getting guys back to where we were last year.”

That process continues Thursday against the Hawks. It does not end there.

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This article originally published at Who Will Start for the Spurs? Why two lineup spots remain up for grabs.

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