Spurs get early reminder of their point guard trio’s biggest weakness

Despite showing plenty of promise, the San Antonio Spurs trio of guards De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper still has a clear flaw. They have only started a handful of games together thus far, and shooting already appears to be a clear issue.

Against the Oklahoma City Thunder on opening night, the Spurs' new look started with five combined to hit just six threes, with Castle hitting five of them. Castle shooting well from three is a welcome sign, but it's a concerning trend if Fox, Harper, Devin Vassell, and Victor Wembanyama don't.

To start the season, the Spurs are launching a staggering 38.7 3-point attempts per game, which ranks 11th in the NBA. On the other hand, they rank only 20th in 3-point percentage, down from 15th last season.

Obviously, it's an incredibly small sample size, and things will change--hopefully, for the better. However, the biggest potential flaw of starting three point guards together is already rearing its ugly head.

Spurs already reminded of point guard trio's shooting limitation

Ironically, thus far, De'Aaron Fox and Castle have shot the ball well from outside, while Dylan Harper and Victor Wembanyama haven't. Shooting is a concern, especially with Julian Champagnie coming off the bench and Harrison Barnes likely to be out of the rotation once Tobias Harris debuts.

Those are two of the Spurs' best 3-point shooters, and playing them fewer minutes is a big risk. San Antonio already saw how it can backfire.

They clanked three after three against the Thunder and couldn't make the Houston Rockets pay despite them allowing the Spurs to attempt 37 threes. Hope isn't lost, however. Wembanyama's shot will improve to the mean, while Harper could pick up where he left off during the second half of last season.

The Spurs haven't shot well, but there is room for improvement

Over the team's last 30 games of last season, Harper shot 48.6% from three on 2.5 3-point attempts per game. That is a small sample size, but Harper has shown he's a far better 3-point shooter than the 28.6% from outside he's connecting on this season.

Fox got off to a similarly hot start from three last season, only for his 3-point percentage to come crashing down to earth. If he continues connecting on 36.4% from three on high volume, then the Spurs' shooting issues will be far less of a problem.

Having Harper and Fox shoot a respectable percentage from three is crucial to San Antonio making their new starting lineup work. As is Castle, continuing to shoot a blistering percentage from outside.

Thus far, he's connected on 37.9% of his threes with many of his attempts coming from the top of the 3-point line. That's encouraging, and he could help San Antonio have just enough spacing to make this lineup work.

Barring that, however, the Spurs could continue to struggle to space the floor, though they have enough slashers and playmaking to mitigate any potential downside.

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