What fix?

Mitch was in over his head. Kept running Fox out there despite Harper clearly being the best player for the Spurs.

Mitch and Fox need to go.

Cowboy Curtis said:

---

---

This didn't really show it, Spurs had 90+% winning odds in the second half of every game except game 2, where they had 80% in 1st half. Barf

Just unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/JZO2OWm5Yq

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) June 14, 2026

A. Youth
B. Poor coaching
C. Choking
D. All of the above

Dr. Not Yet Dr. Ag said:

---

I disagree about the no impetus to trade Fox. His salary eventually needs to get off the books even if it's two years from now. Sure, it doesn't technically need to happen this year, but there is a high probability that a guard known for his athleticism, already showing decline in his game at 28 years old is unlikely to retain much value the longer you hold onto him. How exactly do you think we come off that contract outside of league expansion in two years when he is 30 years old, coming off the bench costing 60 million for the next two years?

Obviously Naz Reid trade is a long shot, I don't disagree there,
but how much are you willing to give up or take on if we could get him in a trade? Is there anyone else that we might be interested in trading him for? Because the longer we wait, the harder it is going to be to move him when we need to, and we are potentially going to be **** out of luck if our plan is praying for an expansion draft.

---

There is no impetus to trade Fox. That's an emotional fan response. We just won 62 games and made it to the Finals and we don't do that without him, even if he shot us out of games 4 and 5. You even said we don't need to do it this year.

Spurs are fine salary wise in the next two seasons. Then Castle's extension hits, but they could eat the tax one year if they wanted then trade Fox as an ending contract. I don't think we will eat that tax, and I do think we will trade Fox sometime before the 28-29 season starts. It would be an absolutely idiotic move to panic trade him right now when his value is in the tank. Plus, this draft is going to have five PGs taken in the top 10 and a lot of teams that want a PG are going to go after the 19yo not the 28yo.

Under no circumstances would I give up assets just to move Fox. He's not a toxic teammate. He's not a bad person. If you do that, you are essentially doing the Rodman for Purdue trade again.

I vehemently disagree that it will be harder to trade him by waiting. Because his contract is not team friendly, teams would rather trade for it when it has 1-2 years than when it has 4 years.

Now you want to see an interesting one that works financially:

Paul George for Fox. George makes $5M more than Fox next year, but it is the upcoming season and one more. But he is 36 and only played 78 games the last two seasons. He is also a playoff dropper. But career 38% 3pt shooter that can play PF and shot 39% from three last year.

LawHall88 said:

---

Genuinely fascinating that Vassell says Dylan Harper was upset with playing time and roles throughout the season. pic.twitter.com/QBj5IpJBD2

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) June 14, 2026

---

Is it that fascinating? We all said he should be getting more minutes.

It is interesting that his dad never complained about it and constantly said that Harper was in the best possible position for him.

Well that was a fun season. We just couldn't overcome the emotions of beating OKC to start this series against a veteran team.

We do have a Fox problem on our hands now though. I figured it would come to this a couple years from now but not this soon. Spurs better navigate this one correctly.

LawHall88 said:

---

Genuinely fascinating that Vassell says Dylan Harper was upset with playing time and roles throughout the season. pic.twitter.com/QBj5IpJBD2

— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) June 14, 2026

---

Reactions to this feel like Dev's statements are being massively misconstrued.

BBRex said:

---

Harper was great in his minutes - until the very end. A missed layup and missing free throws at crunch time show maybe he needs to get more a feel of that kind of pressure. At any rate, I wish we could replay this series with Fox and Harper swapping minutes.

After a night to sleep on it, maybe Fox just needed a consistent scorer. With everyone around him going cold, I think Fox put a lot of pressure on himself to carry the team in those droughts. I think playing tight caused him to struggle.

---

I wasn't mad at Harper's missed layup or missed FTs. That's the kind of shot we needed to take. He makes them at a super high percentage. It was defended well by OG, like he did so many other times in transition. With his FTs, we were already toast. He might make the first one and purposely try to miss the second for a Hail Mary but i think everyone knows that wasn't going to happen.

dmart90 said:

---

Hand Of God said:

---

Just unbelievable. pic.twitter.com/JZO2OWm5Yq

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) June 14, 2026

A. Youth
B. Poor coaching
C. Choking
D. All of the above

---

D

But losing games when you have double digit leads is mostly poor coaching.

---

I think the biggest aspect of poor coaching is when you choke 4 games in the exact same way. If it happens once that's one thing but for it to happen 4 times with zero adjustments is just terrible coaching

Praying for an expansion team to take Fox
he would look good inVegas and wouldn't have to travel far to pick up his fixed game winnings

LawHall88 said:

---

FWIW, Hollinger's prediction on Champagnie:

Quote:

---

Julian Champagnie, PF, San Antonio (TO, $3,000,000)

Champagnie has massively outkicked his coverage on this contract - BORD$ values him at $25.7 million - to the point that the Spurs would have a real problem in 2027 if he hit the market as a 25-year-old unrestricted free agent. The Spurs are also limited in what they could pay him in an extension before then.

However, with the team set to become hugely expensive in future seasons, and with Champagnie having full Bird rights if the Spurs decline his option, the obvious move is to lock him up now to a long-term contract, structuring it with declining annual salaries.

Imagine, for instance, ripping up the option and handing him a five-year deal for $105 million (i.e., four years and $102 million in new money) that starts at $25 million in 2026-27 and descends the maximum $2 million a year until it pays $17 million in 2030-31 … by which point Victor Wembanyama, Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle and Carter Bryant will all be on their second contacts.

Prediction: Decline and re-sign

---

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7336075/2026/06/12/nba-offseason-free-agency-2026-player-team-options/

---

Those would be ****ing awful deals.

Julian is above average defender, but he was also completely exposed and hunted by the Knicks. He's an above average shooter but he's not elite and he's very inconsistent. He improved a lot in his rebounding this year, but long-term. He's a backup small forward and I think next year or the year after Carter Bryant is solidly ahead of him in the rotation.

25 million a year is about double the max I would do. No team is offering a player like him that especially if you look at the last two years of free agency moves. NAW for 15 and he's a better defender playmaker and shooter.

25 a year is what Josh Giddey got and he is 20,8and 8 guy. It's what Dyson Daniels got as one of the best defenders in the league whole also being able to run the offense for spurts.

Julian isn't close to that. He's not the full MLE in the open market,. Only a few teams can't even do more than the MLE

The most fascinating outcome of this will be the effect on Wemby's mental development. I don't remember anyone being so openly obsessed with their legend and GOAT placement, and I think sometimes he wants so much to be "mommy, there go that man" that it leads to bad basketball decisions. Not saying he's a bad teammate, but he talks openly about how and where legends are made.

Example: Game 2, Spurs have clawed back from a hole and have momentum. They've started moving the ball on offense. They get a turnover? long rebound? (don't remember that part). Instead of getting into the offense, Wemby takes a 28' heat check 3 in transition… on a 2-on-4 disadvantage. Last night, Wemby takes a contested 3 with like 18 seconds on the shot clock. Spurs get a rare offensive rebound, and Wemby launches another (slightly longer) contested 3.

Maybe he watches a ton of film and decides it's going to take a village to win rings. But he might watch the same film and see missed layups, awful turnovers, and clanked middies and think "yes, only a legend can carry a Finals team" and make more bad decisions in clutch time.

TheNotoriousP.I.P. said:

---

25/yr is ridiculous but I think your 10-12 valuation is also not realistic. We are gonna have to at least pony up somewhere in the vicinity of the non-tax MLE which is about 16/yr which is about the highest I'd go for him. If he asks for more than the MLE then you just pick up his 3MM option and either ride it out or use him as trade fodder.

---

He's just not worth the MLE. The MLE is right at 15M this year.

Julian would not be a starter on the Knicks. He wouldn't be a starter on last year's OKC thunder. Or the year before's Celtics or the year before's Nuggets. He's a backup wing on a championship team.

Last year SEVEN players signed for more than this year's MLE.

1. Myles Turner
2. Kyrie (resign)
3. FVV (resign)
4. Giddey (25M)
5. Kuminga (23M)
6. Santi (17.5)
7. Duncan Robinson (15.9)

That's it. You could maybe make an argument of Julian being close to Duncan due to better defense, but Duncan's significantly better shooting is why he got that deal and it was only 3y declining. Duncan is a career 40% 3pt shooter and was 41% last year. Julian is a career .375 shooter.

After that, you have NAW, Schroeder, LaVert, DFS, and Portis as the only guys in the 12-15M range.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents/signed/_/year/2025

I think that 4y53M that DFS got is probably the closest comparable deal to Julian's value, but DFS was coming off a year where he shot 41% from three and was a high level versatile defender. Also his last two years are unguaranteed so he is effectively on an ending contract now.

The actual FA market the last two years just does not support Julian being worth the full MLE or higher. He was just hunted mercilessly on defense and he is an IcyHot inconsistent shooter. On a championship team, he is a backup wing and nothing more.

I agree if he wants the MLE or more, we should look at trades. Use him to move up in the draft to get a PF. Keldon+Jules for Cam Johnson saves Denver some cash. You could trade him to Detroit for BeefStew, which would open up their free agency bank.

flashplayer said:

---

I would make Champagnie produce for another year and earn that next deal. No way you pass on giving him his prove it year, especially when you need everyone pushing harder to get over the hump. If they strike it hot on pick 20 this year there is also a chance he won't be in an 8 deep playoff rotation within a couple years. Can't overpay him now.

---

This. Also if we make a deal for him to opt out and resign, we are doing him a favor and he needs to take a team-friendly deal.

But the bottom line is Julian has no great or elite skills. He does a lot of little things well. But not great. He's a valuable role player, but if you are paying your backup wing that can't create offense and isn't a lockdown defender more than the MLE, you are out of your mind.

Dobro Turtlebane said:

---

The most fascinating outcome of this will be the effect on Wemby's mental development. I don't remember anyone being so openly obsessed with their legend and GOAT placement, and I think sometimes he wants so much to be "mommy, there go that man" that it leads to bad basketball decisions. Not saying he's a bad teammate, but he talks openly about how and where legends are made.

Example: Game 2, Spurs have clawed back from a hole and have momentum. They've started moving the ball on offense. They get a turnover? long rebound? (don't remember that part). Instead of getting into the offense, Wemby takes a 28' heat check 3 in transition… on a 2-on-4 disadvantage. Last night, Wemby takes a contested 3 with like 18 seconds on the shot clock. Spurs get a rare offensive rebound, and Wemby launches another (slightly longer) contested 3.

Maybe he watches a ton of film and decides it's going to take a village to win rings. But he might watch the same film and see missed layups, awful turnovers, and clanked middies and think "yes, only a legend can carry a Finals team" and make more bad decisions in clutch time.

---

Wemby lost that U19 game despite being the best player. He lost the gold medal game despite being the highest scorer from either team.

He has shown that he feeds off the defeat and takes it personally to fuel himself getting better. He's done that since he was a kid. I am not at all worried about his mental psyche.

The biggest problem for him is the demands of being the #1 player on offense and #1 player on defense. I don't think that physiologically his body can handle that and after the Minn/OKC series he was physically worn down.

Wemby had to launch those threes at the end because we needed as much time as possible. Same shot he launched that killed OKC.