Facing elimination against the New York Knicks in Game 5 of the 2026 NBA Finals, the Spurs had a simple choice to make: ride the hot hand or trust the veteran guard. Coach Mitch Johnson, the man who took over for Gregg Popovich in 2025 and led San Antonio to its first Finals since 2014, stuck to his earlier comments and went with the latter. He put his faith in De’Aaron Fox to explode in the clutch despite his rough recent record, while Spurs rookie Dylan Harper, the team’s hottest hand all series, sat for the crucial stretch.

That decision became the biggest talking point after the Spurs’ heartbreaking 94-90 loss, one that handed New York its first championship in 53 years. Veteran radio host Justin Termine didn’t mince his words on SiriusXM NBA Radio, dropping the hammer on Fox and the coach who stuck by him.

“It’s not like you’re benching Magic Johnson or Isiah Thomas. It’s De’Aaron Fox,” he said. 

His co-host, former Sixth Man of the Year recipient Eddie Johnson, backed him up with a player’s-eye view.

“Doesn’t matter, man. I was a scorer, man. And then at times, I’d come out of the game, and I’d be hot. I mean, I’d be hot, like killing people, and they’d take you out,” Eddie said.

“Because some coaches, okay, they’d rather ride with the stability of a player than ride with the combustible good nature of a player.”

While Termine’s comparison may sound harsh, his point centered on Fox’s standing in the league. Before joining the Spurs’ young roster, he was the Sacramento Kings’ cornerstone. In his seven and a half seasons spent in California, he averaged 25+ points in four seasons.

He’s also the answer to a piece of league trivia: in 2023, Fox became the inaugural winner of the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year award, which is exactly why Johnson’s faith wasn’t some baseless hunch. The problem is that the award is three years old, and it wasn’t doing Fox any favors in real time.

However, Eddie Johnson’s argument focused less on reputation and more on what unfolded in Game 5. Entering the 4th quarter, Dylan Harper, the Spurs rookie, had already recorded 21 points in 22 minutes, leading the team. Fox, meanwhile, had managed only 7 points. 

Yet, Mitch Johnson opened the penultimate quarter with Fox, as the Knicks stared at a 7-point deficit. 

The questionable part is Fox’s recent stretch.

Outside of his Game 3 jumper – a 12-footer over OG Anunoby with 12 seconds left that snapped New York’s 13-game winning streak and remains the high point of his series- the 28-year-old hadn’t been effective in the clutch, hitting just 5 of 19 such field-goal attempts across the series.

In Game 5’s fourth quarter specifically, he finished 0-for-4 with no points, no assists, and no rebounds. Harper, who’d cooled off late and missed a couple of layups and a free throw down the stretch, still walked away with a team-high 25 points on the night.

For a rookie, an 18-point Finals scoring average off the bench is the best mark by any rookie guard since Magic Johnson’s own rookie run in 1980, which makes Termine’s comparison less like hyperbole and more like the literal point of decision.

By the time Harper checked back in, the Knicks were already on song. The debate ultimately comes down to a simple question: Did the Spurs HC stick with the right players when the season was on the line?

Coach Johnson’s trust in De’Aaron Fox came with a price

Ahead of Game 5, defending Fox on his late-game blunder in Game 4, Johnson said:

“De’Aaron Fox will have the ball in his hands at the end of the game tomorrow, and I have nothing but the utmost confidence.”

That line aged badly, and the criticism extended well beyond Termine and Eddie Johnson.

Hall of Famer Nick Van Exel was even more direct, saying Johnson “died on that Fox hill and he didn’t have to.”

The frustration wasn’t just about one quarter. The Spurs held a double-digit lead in the opening period of all five games, outscoring the Knicks by a combined 57 points in first quarters alone and still managed just a single win in the series. Game 5 followed the same script: a comfortable lead built early, then surrendered late, as New York closed the fourth quarter on a 29-18 run.

Commenting on the decisions made, Charles Barkley said:

“He’s got to take Fox out of the game. If you’re a coach, you can’t be worrying about people’s feelings,” at the ESPN broadcast.

That pattern wasn’t really about Fox alone, it was New York’s identity all series. Jalen Brunson, who scored 45 points in the closeout game, including 13 straight in the fourth quarter, had already authored the largest comeback in Finals history three nights earlier, erasing a 29-point deficit in Game 4.

Every single Knicks win in the series came from a double-digit hole. San Antonio’s youth and inexperience in those moments was as much the story as any one substitution pattern, but Fox’s stretch made him the most visible symbol of it.

The numbers back up why he became the target. Fox averaged 12.8 points on 34.2% shooting and just 25% from three across the series, while Harper, coming off the bench, averaged 18 points on 49.3% shooting. Johnson chose continuity over what was actually working, and given how the Spurs’ season ended, that trust is now the headline he has to answer for.