De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper were cleared to play for the San Antonio Spurs just before tipoff Friday night, giving the club both of its injured point guards back for Game 3 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both had entered the day listed as questionable and then game-time decisions, but were upgraded to available before the Western Conference Finals matchup at Frost Bank Arena.
The timing mattered because San Antonio needed the answers now, not later. Fox, Stephon Castle, Julian Champagnie, Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama were named as the Spurs' starters for a game that tipped at 7:30 p.m. CST on Friday, May 22, and was carried on NBC and Peacock. Fox had not yet faced the Thunder in the conference finals before Game 3 after missing time with an ankle injury from the last series, while Harper returned after leaving Game 2 against Oklahoma City with an adductor injury and not coming back.
San Antonio's clean injury report outside of Fox and Harper gave the Spurs a healthier look on paper, but it did not change the task in front of them. The Thunder entered with a 3-1 series lead, and the defending champions had already shown how hard they could be to move even when the Spurs had reason to feel better about their own rotation. Victor Wembanyama was also named to the All-Defensive First Team before the game, another marker of how much of San Antonio's hope still ran through its young core.
The Spurs had leaned on their Fiesta theme through the postseason and were 2-1 in the playoffs with it before Friday, including a win over the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round and a 1-1 split against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference semifinals. That backdrop gave San Antonio a little extra color entering Game 3, but the real question was whether Fox and Harper could supply enough of a lift after both were upgraded so late in the day. That answer would have to come on the floor.
