The San Antonio Spurs will be without De’Aaron Fox in the opening game of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, as Fox has been ruled out due to right ankle soreness. Leading up to Game 1, Fox was listed as questionable.
Fox has averaged 18.8 points and 5.8 assists in 33.3 minutes per game in San Antonio’s 11 playoff games. With Stephon Castle and the ascending Dylan Harper in the backcourt, the team is well-positioned to withstand Fox’s absence. Ideally, though, the Spurs would be able to keep two of those three guards on the court for the entire game. Now, there will be more of a burden on Castle and Harper in terms of minutes and playmaking responsibility. Wing Devin Vassell could get a bump in on-ball opportunities, too.
During the regular season, San Antonio had more success attacking Oklahoma City off the dribble than just about anybody. The Spurs still have players who can do that, but they will miss Fox in this respect. The Thunder enter the series as -260 favorites on FanDuel, but the Spurs have overachieved all season.
“I understand the general expectations of what we were supposed to do in October aren’t necessarily aligned with where we’re at right now,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said after his team eliminated the Timberwolves on Friday night. “We never talked about what we were going to be or what we were going to do. We just knew that we had a lot of potential and we were going to try to be the best team we could be.”
In other news, San Antonio center Luke Kornet, previously listed as questionable due to left foot soreness, has been upgraded to available.
