Carter Bryant has a realistic path to meaningful role with Spurs

Despite seemingly being buried in the San Antonio Spurs' depth chart, second-year player Carter Bryant has a chance to earn meaningful minutes this season. Bryant played mostly at small forward and power forward last season but may see some of those minutes dry up next year.

The reason being the addition of Tobias Harris, who will likely eat up a significant amount of minutes at the 4. That will force Bryant to play primarily small forward, and he will have to play behind the Spurs veterans Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson.

Beating either player out for minutes will be a tall task, though the Spurs are likely trying to motivate Bryant to improve over the summer. Johnson would seemingly be the player Bryant can overtake in the rotation, and he may very well do so next season.

Carter Bryant has a realistic path to a meaningful role with the Spurs

As good as the Silver and Black were defensively last season, they could use another elite wing stopper. That's true of any NBA team, but if Bryant develops the way we all hope he will, he could make that a reality.

That would be an incredible development for the Spurs, especially if he's able to do that next season in time for the playoffs. Imagine a trio of Stephon Castle, Victor Wembanyama, and Bryant defensively.

In that case, San Antonio would have two elite wing defenders in Castle and Bryant to throw at the NBA's best perimeter players. That could include Anthony Edwards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Brunson, each of whom the Spurs faced in the playoffs last season.

The Spurs are counting on Carter Bryant earning minutes next season

The Spurs are likely trying to push Bryant to improve by giving him competition to overcome. Even though he is third in the depth chart, he is likely to receive some minutes each game, giving him a chance to prove himself and earn a larger role.

Barring him regressing from last season, I expect Bryant will overtake Johnson by the trade deadline. Johnson is obviously still a useful player, particularly in the regular season, but he is entering the final year of his contract. The Spurs haven't given him a contract extension and seem unlikely to do so.

Based on that, San Antonio has a vested interest in Bryant playing a large role next season. Still, it will be entirely up to him to prove himself, but he'll hopefully level up next season.

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