Tobias Harris makes Spurs' Keldon Johnson decision even more agonizing

The San Antonio Spurs' addition of veteran forward Tobias Harris could be huge in more ways than one. The most obvious way is that he provides depth at a position of weakness and gives San Antonio another shooter.

That can't be understated given how much the Spurs struggled at times to knock down threes last season. Another is that his arrival could threaten the future of long-time Spur and fan-favorite Keldon Johnson.

Despite being listed at small forward, Johnson spent 16% of his minutes (307 minutes to be exact) at power forward last season, according to Basketball Reference.

Having Harris means that Johnson hopefully won't be asked to play at the four. The flip side is that means far fewer minutes for the reigning Sixth Man of the Year.

Tobias Harris's arrival may threaten Keldon Johnson's role

Last season Big Body played nearly 2000 minutes—all of them off the bench—but his playing time could be slashed. Not just because of Harris, however.

Johnson is credited as having played 22% of his minutes at shooting guard. Although a big increase in playing time for Dylan Harper would eat into that.

With no minutes at guard and none at power forward, that means Johnson will play almost exclusively at the three next season. That would seemingly be a good thing since he is an actual small forward.

Still, he'd essentially be splitting minutes with Devin Vassell, who is crucial to this team. The Spurs also have Carter Bryant, who is sure to get small but consistent playing time. That leaves Johnson between a rock and a hard place.

Keldon Johnson may have less opportunity to make a big impact

If he played exclusively at small forward last season, he would have averaged only around 14.5 minutes. Down from the 26.5 minutes he actually averaged. I still expect him to average around 20 minutes next season, but his role seems to be decreasing.

Combine that with the Spurs choosing to give Julian Champagnie an extension and not Johnson, and it's possible that he's entering his last season in San Antonio. Hopefully, he'll have a strong bounce-back season and help deliver a championship to San Antonio.

But with this team becoming increasingly expensive and needing more size and shooting, Johnson is slowly becoming the odd man out.

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