Spurs debut three-guard lineup of Fox, Harper, Castle in preseason win

SAN ANTONIO -- Spurs coach Mitch Johnson finally deployed the three-guard lineup featuring De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle in a 123-103 preseason win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, explaining "it's time to push forward appropriately" the team's "natural evolution that will still take time." That was apparent in the group's choppy start as Harper and Castle combined to miss their first five shots before Fox, making his preseason debut, subbed out with 6:57 left in the opening quarter. But by the time the buzzer sounded for intermission, Fox, Harper and Castle had combined for 31 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists in helping San Antonio seize a 60-49 halftime lead. "I'm glad they got to play some together and we got some reps out there," Johnson said. "I thought we started the game with some very sloppy possessions, and everybody will have to have a better start to games and a better approach with that." Fox drilled a corner 3-pointer with 1 second left for the Spurs' final points of the first half. Castle led all scorers with a game-high 18 points, including 14 from the free throw line. Harper, who finished with 9 points, drew the most raucous cheers from the Frost Bank Center crowd with 34.5 ticks left in the second quarter, when he caught a Devin Vassell miss for a rim-rocking tip dunk. Fox even slammed home a poster dunk in the first half. "I felt like we were trying to do the right things at the beginning, but we scored so few points," Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama said. "When it clicked, it clicked. The biggest thing is I've got handlers all around me, guys that we want to put the ball in their hands and pick and roll around me. That makes things easier." Fox, Harper and Castle spent a total of 11 minutes on the floor together in the opening half, combining for 19 points to finish with a net rating of plus-10. Fox, Harper and Castle played just 69 minutes together all last season, including 25 in the NBA Finals, and opponents outscored the Spurs by 47 points in those minutes. By comparison, the Spurs finished with a plus-9.4 net rating when Fox and Castle shared the floor in the regular season, plus-6.2 with Fox and Harper, and plus-11.0 with Harper and Castle. Fox said the guards spoke over the summer in France, when they visited Wembanyama, about the prospect of potentially playing in the starting lineup together. "Obviously, when we were in the Finals and just throughout the playoffs there were times where we all three played together, a lot more than we did throughout the regular season," Fox said. "But we knew there was a chance that we'd all be starting or at least sharing the court together. We're all excited for it." Johnson initially announced ahead of last week's exhibition opener against the Atlanta Hawks that Fox, Harper and Castle would join Wembanyama and Vassell in the starting lineup. But approximately 20 minutes after that announcement, Fox arrived at Frost Bank Center experiencing general soreness, which caused San Antonio's strength and conditioning staff to hold out the veteran guard. Fox played only the first half against the Suns, spending 18 minutes and 33 seconds on the court. Johnson, meanwhile, explained the logic behind playing Fox, Harper and Castle in the starting lineup. "I understand the narrative around it. I always land on the same reasoning at the very end of it," he said. "They're three of our better players. I know the majority of their lives, maybe their highlight tape is typically with the basketball in their hands. But De'Aaron Fox has played with other handlers and played off the ball a ton. Steph Castle won a national championship [at UConn], basically not touching the ball ever for the start of a possession. They've done it here. We didn't do it a lot last year. "Dylan was a rookie who couldn't play more than 20 minutes for half the season (last year) because he was going to cough up a lung because he wasn't in shape. I think they can dribble, pass, shoot, defend, make winning plays. They're unselfish. They have good size." ESPN Research contributed to this report.