Harrison Barnes and 5 Spurs deserving swift exits to aid Wembanyama's first title

62 games. Second place, not just in the West, but in the entire NBA. An NBA Finals berth. That's a hell of a year for the youthful bunch led by Mitch Johnson and the French superstar Victor Wembanyama. They may have just been eliminated from their first postseason together, but they made Spurs Nation as proud as ever.

But now comes the hard part.

At the end of the day, the NBA is still a business. People come, and people go. While San Antonio's roster did a ton of overachieving based on preseason expectations, there were still shortcomings from several members of the team, and it's time to move on from them to help this team take the next step and get The Alien the Larry O'Brien Trophy that just barely eluded him in his third season.

Harrison Barnes shouldn't return to the Spurs

Including Barnes on this list is painful for me for reasons explained in another article. I won't repeat them, but plenty of San Antonio fans have their own connection to the veteran forward. He's been tremendous in the community, and his knowledge of the league has helped the younger guys grow. However, there still needs to be contributions on the court. That's going to be a theme here.

HB went from a career year last season to a terrible one. He had long stretches where he struggled to knock down a shot, his defense isn't great, and he doesn't rebound the ball well enough. It cost him his starting spot during the regular season.

Mitch Johnson cut his minutes even more in the playoffs, and it was the right thing to do because his old reputation of a playoff faller has followed him to the Alamo City. The ex-Kings forward may have had a few good moments, but he was overall pretty unplayable.

Barnes shot less than 35% FG and couldn't even reach 25% 3PT in the postseason. Coach Johnson wouldn't even really play him in the NBA Finals. That's just not going to get it done. Having veteran voices is important, but the Spurs need to find one they can trust to produce in big games.

Lindy Waters III and Jordan McLaughlin aren't giving Spurs anything

What is the point of having backup guards on your bench if you're unwilling to put them in the game when your top guys are battling injuries? De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper both got knicked up in the Timberwolves series, forcing them to either miss time or not play like themselves. Still, we only saw McLaughlin receive just a speck of additional playing time against OKC.

Coach Johnson would rather have Fox and Harper out there limping through the chaos rather than insert the third-stringers into the lineup. Meanwhile, the Thunder were working their way through their entire bench to find guys to throw at San Antonio. Mike Brown did the same thing in the NBA Finals, and they got good minutes from some of their "others," as Shaq likes to call them.

In the depth wars, the Spurs have been losing, and that needs to change for the betterment of the team's chances at sustained winning.

Kelly Olynyk, Mason Plumlee, and Bismack Biyombo must go

I think this post from a social media user sums up the Silver and Black's back-of-the-bench big "rotation" quite nicely.

These guys just don't play ever. Every single one had their stint during the regular season when Mitch would trot them out on the floor to see what they could bring to the team. It was never very much, and oftentimes, their presence actively hurt the Spurs.

These are all great guys, personality-wise, but we're not looking for men to date someone's daughter. The players are supposed to be there to play basketball.

They're not doing that from the sideline.

I don't know that San Antonio would actually get rid of six guys in one offseason, but they should strongly consider it. Gone are the days when you can afford to treat the last few roster spots like throwaways. Teams are weaponizing depth in a way their opponents must combat. The Spurs can start by moving out some of the bench mob in favor of some real hoopers.

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