Veteran forward Tobias Harris considered questionable to play in SpursOpened the regular season Oct. 20 against Oklahoma City after suffering a sprained left calf in training camp, the team announced today, per Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Link to Twitter).
In addition to missing Sunday’s intramural scrimmage, Harris is expected to be unavailable for all five of San Antonio’s preseason games as he is scheduled to be reevaluated at the end of the preseason, Orsborn noted.
Harris is the only rookie expected to play a significant role in San Antonio’s 2026-27 rotation, so his preseason absence will delay the head coaching job Mitch Johnsonthe ability to experiment with certain compositions, tweets Jared Weiss of The Athletic. While Harris has been considered a candidate for the Spurs’ starting five, that is less likely to happen in the short term as he will not suit up for the team until the regular season begins.
We have more from the Southwest:
- After Ja Morant served at Grizzlies‘main playmaker for the past seven years, who will take his place in the 2026/27 season? You, Jerome looks like the first leader, according to DeMichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appealwho says the veteran guard has been one of the standouts in the club’s camp. “He can pretty much score on anybody, on any day, on any possession, in any situation.” forward H. G. Jackson II said of Jerome.
- The Rockets decided refuse a two-way player Rafael Castro because they feel confident in their front-end depth, which includes Alperen Sengun, Stephen Adams, Clint Capellaand the camp inviter Oscar Tibwehead coach Made by Udok told reporters, including Varun Shankar of The Houston Chronicle (Link to Twitter). According to Udoka, the team has four or five candidates in mind as it considers how to fill that two-way opening. For what it’s worth, Tshiebwe and the wing Julian Phillipswho entered into Annex 10 contracts are both eligible to have their deals converted into bilateral contracts, so they could be among those candidates.
- Mavericks head coach Dusty May described the team’s trip to Macau as a “fact-finding mission,” explaining that he will be less focused on winning a pair of preseason games against Houston and more on coming away with a better understanding of his club’s strengths and weaknesses. Grant Offset of Dallas Hoops Magazine there is a story.
- The PelicansThe G League team is moving from Birmingham to Kenner and rebranding as the Laketown Squadron for the 2026-27 season, but upgrades to the Pontchartrain Convention & Civic Center are taking longer than expected after contractors discovered mold growing on the ceiling earlier this year. Lara Nicholson of NOLA.com (subscription required). While the cost to the city, which owns the building, exceeded initial estimates, Pelicans vice president of operations Stephen Pate said renovations are proceeding on schedule and that the arena should be ready for the start of the Squadron season next month.
