2 Spurs who are part of the core, 2 they can afford to lose

Can afford to lose - Keldon Johnson

Another player with plenty of varying opinion around him from the Spurs fanbase is Keldon Johnson. After being drafted at the tail end of the first round in the 2019 draft, Keldon joined a Spurs team that was still a psuedo-contender with players like DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge on the roster.

Enjoying a mini-breakout for the Spurs during the bubble in 2020, many became excited about Keldon's potential going forward. And for good reason. He was a lengthy, hot-shooting wing that could do a lot of different things on the court. With San Antonio hoping to compete for a playoff or play-in spot the next year, he looked to be one of the main catalysts for their push.

As time wore on and Dejounte Murray was traded, Keldon ended up as the team's leading scorer in 2022-23, putting up 22 points per game. The excitement was reaching an all-time high. But now, we are seeing that Johnson has in all likelihood reached his peak as a player already. Moving back to the bench, Keldon's numbers have regressed a bit.

In the grand scheme of things, Johnson is a great supporting player, but he is not a game-changing star, and that is okay. In the end, the exact players that can be put around Victor Wembanyama to make the Spurs a winner is relatively flexible. Keldon can still have a fantastic career when things are all said and done, but San Antonio will not be losing sleep if they wake up one day and he is no longer on the roster.