By now, San Antonio Spurs fans are likely sick of hearing about star De'Aaron Fox potentially being traded. While it's true that that narrative has jumped the shark, it seems almost inevitable that he will eventually be traded, just perhaps not for several years.
That gives the Spurs potentially three years to s[ee whether they can contend with him](https://airalamo.com/deaaron-fox-give-victor-wembanyama-something-spurs-havent-had). After that, things get more unclear. The collective bargaining agreement makes it much harder to have three stars.
Therefore, the Spurs may eventually have to part ways with Fox in favor of Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper.
Spurs’ projected starting five post-Fox is obvious
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That assumes, of course, that Castle and Harper both prove worthy of building around alongside Victor Wembanyama. If they are, then the Spurs would have a tough decision to make, and that would almost certainly include them trading Fox at some point.
That leads to questions about what could be their long-term starting lineup post-Fox. Predicting the Spurs' starting lineup at least three years out is obviously a guessing game.
An educated guess would be that it will consist of Harper, Castle, Carter Bryant, Jeremy Sochan, and Wembanyama. Still, a lot of development would have to happen between now and then to make that lineup possible.
Namely Castle, Harper, and Sochan developing into reliable shooters. That would be almost too good to be true with three shaky shooters all becoming good ones. Of the three, Harper probably has the best chance of making that leap.
To his credit, Castle had red-hot stretches last season, including shooting 41% from deep. That was while averaging 3.4 3-point attempts over the 12 games preceding the All-Star break.
He also hit four threes in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who had the best defense in the league. Bad shooters don't have those kinds of outbursts.
Spurs' long-term starting five is high-risk, high reward
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Barring a dramatic improvement, Sochan probably doesn't have the touch to be a threat from outside. He may not need to if Harper and Castle can shoot and Bryant is a decent floor spacer, which he was at Arizona.
There's also an ace in the hole. Wembanyama. He launched nearly nine threes per game and shot a respectable 35.3% from three last season. If he can continue to shoot at a high clip and up his percentage to around 37%, then Sochan could still work as a defacto center on offense as a roll man and finisher.
Let's hope so because that potential lineup could be a nightmare to score against. It would have four solid to great perimeter defenders and an already all-time great rim protector in Wembanyama.
Offensively, they'd have a superstar and potentially two high-level slashers to go along with a spot-up shooter and a much-improved finisher in Sochan. If the Spurs are eventually forced to move Fox, San Antonio would still potentially have an incredibly bright future.