Cold hard Stephon Castle truth has become impossible for Spurs to ignore

San Antonio Spurs fans were recently finally treated to the long-awaited debut of their point guard trio. De'Aaron Fox, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle finally played their first NBA game together, and the trio was impressive, combining to score 54 points and hand out 10 assists in their win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

That is an exciting step for the Spurs. However, there are questions about how that trio will work together and whether coach Mitch Johnson can maximize all three while also still prioritizing star Victor Wembanyama.

That is especially a concern considering how well San Antonio played without Castle and Wembanyama. Fox was paired with three shooters in Devon Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Harrison Barnes, and Luke Kornet, and that lineup proved surprisingly effective.

The Spurs will have to choose between De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle

The Spurs were firing on all cylinders offensively; in fact, they had the equivalent of a top five offense during those 10 games without Castle and Wembanyama. It's clear that putting the ball in the hands of Fox with plenty of shooting around him is a lethal combination.

Moreover, putting Wembanyama in place of Luke Kornet in that lineup could easily help propel the Spurs to a top-ranked offense. Of course, Castle should start, but his fit still remains a concern next to Fox.

When Castle was running the show with Wembanyama but without Fox, the offense was mostly very good. However, there were turnover issues with Castle and Wembanyama ranking first and second on the team in that category.

Teams also swarmed Wembanyama with them unconcerned about having another Spur beat them. That was before Fox's debut, however. With Fox and Castle now sharing the backcourt, Coach Johnson has taken to having Castle run point guard while playing alongside Fox. That may be a mistake.

The Spurs may be making a mistake taking the ball out of Fox's hands

In theory, having Castle play with the ball in his hands keeps teams from leaving him open. Then again, the Spurs have been better offensively with Fox as the primary ball handler, and he has shot the ball much better off the dribble compared to when he's spotting up this season.

Ironically, having Fox or Castle play off-ball hurts their effectiveness, and the same can be said of Harper. None of them are great shooters, though Fox has been surprisingly good this season.

That questionable 3-point shooting among those three hints that the Spurs' point guard trio may not be effective playing alongside each other unless two of them improve as shooters.

The Spurs have a possible fix to the Castle conundrum

Having each take turns playing point guard is an option, though Fox usually ends up taking a back seat. He attempted just 12 shots against the Pelicans after averaging 19 attempts without Castle, and the Spurs offense eventually ground to a halt in the second half. Fortunately, Fox scored 6 points during crunch time and helped San Antonio stave off the Pelicans.

The fix appears to be having Fox run point guard to start the first and third quarters alongside Castle, Vassell, Barnes, and eventually Wembanyama. That lineup would still have three shooters around Fox, who will also hopefully be able to develop a two-man game with Wembanyama to take the Spurs offense to the next level.

Then they can have Harper sub in for Fox and let him and Castle share playmaking responsibilities before Fox returns.

Overall, Castle's return has certainly helped the Spurs. However, the decision to have him be the primary playmaker when starting alongside Fox comes with risks after Fox successfully carried the Spurs offense. San Antonio will have to figure out how to best use both players' skill sets if they want to maximize this team's potential.