Harris Out for the Opener, and the Malik Williams Call We Got Wrong

0:04The host: The question all over my phone this morning: does Tobias Harris play the opener against Oklahoma City? No. The league report moved him from Day-To-Day to Out yesterday, left calf, estimated return October 23. That's Thursday against Houston. So the Thunder walk in two hours from now and the Spurs have 15 bodies.

0:28The analyst: Fifteen on the roster, not fifteen who'll play. Quaintance is out until December 3 with the right knee. Harris we flagged last time when his calf had been Day-To-Day since October 4 with no update. That part held. And the storyline closes tonight: he's Out, with a date attached.

0:44The host: Last time we said Fox, Malik Williams and Maliq Brown all trend to play. Fox did, cleared on the 14th, 16 points against the Kings on the 16th. Williams never got there. Cleared, relisted, and released on October 15. We had him in the rotation. He isn't on the team.

1:03The analyst: That's on us. We read a Day-To-Day as a timetable and it was a roster decision. Six transactions in four days: Davis, Taylor twice, Peter, Williams, Brown twice, Elmore. The payroll came down with it, $198.3M when we last talked, $196.1M now, $4.3M under the $200.4M tax line.

1:26The host: And the thing that decides tonight isn't Harris. It's who takes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 31.1 points a game last season in 33.2 minutes. Castle gets the first crack, and then the question is whether Mitch Johnson trusts Harper on him when the second unit comes in.

1:43The analyst: Castle averaged 7.4 assists last season, so if he chases Shai all night, Fox runs the offense. That's the three-guard look in Michael C. Wright's report from the 18th. It named Fox, Keldon Johnson and Harris around it, never the three guards. My guess is Fox, Castle, Harper. It's a guess.

2:01The host: The opponent. Thunder went 64-18 last season, 117.6 offensive rating, 106.5 defensive rating, net 11.1. The Spurs beat them in seven in the conference finals and before that in the NBA Cup semifinal. They remember both.

2:21The analyst: They also come in on 4 days of rest, second straight road game, and their report is shorter than ours: Oweh, Topic, Sorber out, none of them in last season's top six. Holmgren, 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds. Hartenstein, 9.4 rebounds in 24.2 minutes. Two bigs for Wembanyama.

2:41The host: Wembanyama went 25.0 and 11.5 last season in 29.2 minutes a night. Him against Holmgren, with Hartenstein behind, is the matchup. And Jalen Williams, 33 games last season, isn't on their report. Full Thunder, minus three reserves.

2:59The analyst: Our side, final: Harris out, Quaintance out, everyone else clean. Kornet, Champagnie and Keldon Johnson were rest listings on the 14th, cleared the 16th. The five still isn't posted. Fox, Castle, Vassell, Wembanyama and one of Keldon Johnson, Champagnie or Barnes.

3:18The host: Number of the day.

3:19The analyst: Plus 9. Devin Vassell is playing nine more minutes a night over the last three games than he had been, and his scoring has barely moved. Harris's minutes went to Vassell and Harper, not to the rookies.

3:31The host: Last time we said watch Harper's eight-minute bump against a real roster. It held: 19 against the Kings on the 16th. Vassell's nine says the same thing from the other side.

3:42The analyst: Hold on. Three preseason games, with Harris out, against the Jazz, Suns and Kings. Nine extra minutes with flat scoring proves Vassell absorbs minutes. It does not prove he scores more. He was 13.9 a game on 38.4% from three last season. A 106.5 defense tonight is the first real data point.

4:04The host: Camp in three lines: lost at Utah 109-119 on the 12th, beat Phoenix 123-103 on the 14th, beat Sacramento 126-97 on the 16th. Harper 19, Fox 16 in the last one. That's why tonight looks like a Fox-Harper backcourt getting real minutes together.

4:26The analyst: Three days of rest since then. The Thunder had four and one game in their last seven days. Legs are even. No excuses on either bench.

4:34The host: Tip-off is two hours from now at Frost Bank Center, NBC and Peacock. First look at Oklahoma City since the Spurs ended their season.

4:43The analyst: One report before we go. Tom Orsborn has a Spurs Notes piece out today naming Harris, Wembanyama, Harper and Gillespie. Reported, not detailed. Gillespie is the name that matters: 22, a rookie, no scoring line all preseason. If he's in the notes on opening night, someone is thinking about his minutes.

5:02The host: Watch Vassell's minutes tonight, not Harper's; if the nine hold against Shai, Harris's spot is already spoken for. Full breakdown after the horn on the Spurs section of Hoops Nightly.

5:15The analyst: And if Castle guards Shai for 33 minutes, I want to know who had the ball on the other end.