Despite a recent ankle injury, De’Aaron Fox has contributed significantly to the San Antonio Spurs first conference finals run since 2017. It’s his first year with the Silver and Black, and he has three years left on his $220 million contract. But his stay with the franchise could be cut short with the emergence of the rookie guard.

“Here he is in his first postseason with the Spurs, having forced his way to San Antonio last season as part of his Sacramento Kings exit plan, and there’s already league-wide chatter about how his time here might be cut short,” Sam Amick of The Athletic wrote about Fox. “The assertion, shared by rival executives and media folks alike, is that rookie guard Dylan Harper (the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft) is simply too good to come off the bench for long and will eventually need to start alongside second-year guard Stephon Castle (the No. 4 pick in 2024).”

As De’Aaron Fox has taken the responsibility of a starter, Harper has thrived in the role from the bench. But the 20-year-old’s post-season maturity has shown the ability to carry the load offensively for the Spurs with 52.2% from the FG. In his playoff debut, Dylan Harper has had multiple 20-point games and other games in which he has affected play on both ends of the floor. Take Game 1 of the conference finals as an example.

Fox missed the first two games of the West Finals due to a right ankle sprain. He sustained the injury in the Spurs’ past second-round win of the postseason against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Supporting Victor Wembanyama’s 41 points and 24 rebounds was Dylan Harper, who contributed 24 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. He even completely disrupted OKC’s offense with seven steals. Even in the absence of Wemby, Harper thrived in the first round of the playoffs.

The guard from Rutgers would finish with 27 points in Game 3 against the Trail Blazers, as Wemby was out with a concussion. Spurs rallied back from a double-digit third-quarter deficit as Harper scored 22 second-half points and was comfortable from the midrange and beyond the arc. Thus, he became the second-youngest player behind Kobe Bryant with a 20-point playoff game off the bench and joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only rookie to score 27 on 80% shooting. While he has taken over the shooting mantle, his playmaking remains limited.

De’Aaron Fox has another way to extend his stay with the Spurs

It was Stephon Castle who took over the ball-handling duties, but produced a league-worst stat in the first two games of the NBA finals. He committed a staggering 20 turnovers over a two-game span. So, clearly, there is a role for De’Aaron Fox to still mentor the young guards. Let’s revisit his motivation to join the Silver and Black in the first place.

“The goal was to get to San Antonio because I always felt like, and this was before they draft Harper, they needed a point guard. But not just a point guard, said Fox’s agent, Rich Paul. “You have to have a point guard with the understanding that I’m coming in, but I’m not the number one guy.” Now add to this the continued report from Amick, which details why the Spurs are best at handling this scenario.

“For starters, this is the same organization that won four titles with Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili coming off the bench and, thus, should be trusted to navigate these sorts of tricky dynamics when that time comes.”

In just year two, Stephon Castle established himself as one of the most reliable one-on-one defenders in the NBA. Meanwhile, Rookie Dylan Harper has shown flashes of taking the game by the throat in any situation. But they still need to learn the trade of playmaking alongside Victor Wembanyama, which Fox so far has done well.