A galaxy brain idea for the Spurs' starting five dilemma

Dylan Harper was set to start with Stephon Castle and De'Aaron Fox before the vet became a late scratch. What's the best path, and what's the path Mitch Johnson can actually take?

Good morning. This is the 1,701st edition of the newsletter. Let's basketball.

Before Thursday's preseason opener, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said he planned to start Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper and De'Aaron Fox alongside Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama. This seemed to be a first clue as to how Johnson would approach one of the most pressing questions in the league, which is whether Harper would continue to come off the bench or become a starter in his second season after a brilliant postseason run. It's a good problem for a young coach to have – too many starters. But it's still a problem.

Starting all three guards feels like the easiest choice: you don't have to keep Harper, who might be the No. 2 future MVP candidate on the team, in a bench role when he might be ready to agitate for a bigger role, and you don't have to tell Fox, the highest-paid player, a career starter and recent All-Star, that he's going to the bench. What that does, though, is reduce the outside shooting in the starting lineup – Julian Champagnie, a sniper, was the fifth starter down the stretch last season – and reduce bench firepower from a creator (either Harper or Fox). The easy path thus becomes the most flawed path.

Starting Fox reduces those alluring Castle-Harper minutes that often feel like the future crashing on opponents' heads. Defense will not be a problem for the Spurs so long as Wembanyama is anchoring the team, but Fox can get burned by high-octane opponents, which puts pressure on the back line. Fox is also a shaky outside shooter, but is a low-turnover creator and a master of the high pick-and-roll, an ingredient made more powerful by Wembanyama's shooting touch. Starting Fox also makes Harper the overwhelming favorite for Sixth Man of the Year.

Starting Harper feels like embracing the future, albeit maybe a little too early. Castle-Harper is a powerful defensive guard combo, perhaps the best in the league (at least rivaling Cason Wallace and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander). This, similar to starting only Fox, also allows you to start Champagnie or, once he's healthy, Tobias Harris. (Or both if Vassell moves to the bench.) But on offense, opponents might further pack the paint to guard against Harper and Castle's drives, and turnovers might become a problem. Fox would become the overwhelming favorite for Sixth Man of the Year.

In both of those scenarios, you're probably going to have some bruised egos, even if they say all the right things. And a coach or executive can talk about Manu Ginobili's selflessness all they want. This situation is not the same as the early 2000s Spurs. These dudes are not Manu Ginobili. Players, and especially excellent players, have their own motivations, egos and personalities. With the Spurs competing for championships and slices of the team's future, you can't just wave away the topic.

Here's the real galaxy-brain idea: