Will Castle or Johnson Lead the Bench Unit for the San Antonio Spurs?

It seems weird to call Keldon Johnson a veteran, but he's going into his sixth NBA season and has been on the San Antonio Spurs longer than anyone else. From 2020-2023, he was a key cog in the starting lineup for the Spurs, but a sharp decrease in efficiency in the 2022-23 season, coupled with his awkward fit next to Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell, and Victor Wembanyama, relegated him to the bench for much of last season.

While there have been calls to trade him, he stands to be the best player on a solid second unit made up of him, Tre Jones, Zach Collins, Julian Champagnie, and rookie guard Stephon Castle. While Johnson will be the better player this season, or at least will take the most shots, Castle was drafted as the franchise point guard moving forward, so who will be the leader of the second unit?

For the most part, everyone coming off the bench will have a defined role. Collins will be down low, Champagnie will space the floor, and Jones will run the offense. On defense, Castle stands to be a lock-down defender, complimenting his role as a secondary playmaker. Johnson, meanwhile, is a volume scorer who is servicable at best on defense, but he has plenty of solid moments on offense.

Neither Johnson nor Castle is an efficient shooter. Johnson did manage to shoot 39.8 percent from deep during the 2021-22 season but has regressed to 33.7 percent over the last two seasons. In college, Castle shot 26.7 percent on limited attempts, and there is little reason to think he will burst onto the scene as an elite scorer right away.

Expect Castle and Johnson to have the highest usage rates coming off the bench on the team. The Spurs will priotize getting Castle looks as he devolps, but in close situations, expect them to defer to the veteran, at least to start the season.

By the midway point of the year, whoever has found their stroke will likely be "the guy" for the second unit, assuming Castle doesn't become a starter . If Johnson can become a reliable volume shooter again, there's no reason to take the ball out of his hands, despite the calls to develop Castle.

Related: Denver Nuggets Should Have Learned from San Antonio Spurs' Example

In fact, since Castle is eventually going to take over the point guard duties, having Johnson re-emerge as a scorer would be ideal, since it would give Castle another target to dish the ball out to.

In terms of who runs the show, expect it to be whoever Popovich has more confidence in when the Spurs need to get a bucket.