On Tuesday, Jan. 28, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Sacramento Kings planned to open trade talks to explore options for superstar De’Aaron Fox.
On Feb. 2, just five days later, Fox became the newest member of the San Antonio Spurs.
This season, Fox averages 25.0 points and 6.1 assists per game, which makes him a frequent standout in FanDuel NBA player performance leaderboards.
However, the Kings have not had the season they wanted. As of Feb. 4, they are locked into a three-way tie for ninth at 25-24. They still have DeMar DeRozan and NBA rebound leader Domantas Sabonis. The Kings mentioned that they want win-now players along with draft capital in return for Fox.
The Spurs have many young players considered to be potential trade assets, including Devin Vassell, Keldon Johnson, Jeremy Sochan, and rookie Stephon Castle. With a third team involved, the Kings secured their “win-now ” player, Zach LaVine, from the Bulls, allowing the Spurs to keep their young and upcoming players.
San Antonio won this trade, and fans should be happy as all they gave up was Zach Collins, Tre Jones, and Sidy Cissoko. They also traded multiple first-round picks and gave the Chicago Bulls their own pick back.
The Spurs now pair Fox with Victor Wembanyama, creating a duo fans have been looking forward to seeing since the report that the Kings were open to trading him. Fox, only 27 years old, is in the middle of his prime and can help the Spurs contend for years to come.
Fox is under contract for the next season and a half unless he signs an extension with the Spurs. He refused to sign this extension with Sacramento, which ultimately led to him being traded. Spurs fans should have high hopes, as Fox ended up where he wanted to be.
Since the trade, the Spurs’ odds of winning the NBA Championship this season have increased from +60000 to +15000. As the team develops, those odds will likely increase year after year.
With the Spurs retaining most of their key players, they can use many different lineups. Chris Paul will most likely be on the roster for the remainder of the season. However, this trade can possibly move him to the bench. This will create the potential starting lineup of:
- De’Aaron Fox
- Stephon Castle
- Devin Vassell
- Harrison Barnes
- Victor Wembanyama
This still leaves players like Sochan, Johnson, and Julian Champagnie to join Paul in creating depth off the bench. With his defense and energy, Spurs fans should expect Sochan to join the future starting lineup.
Many fans wondered what number Fox would wear since Castle currently wears five. On Monday, Don Harris announced that Fox will wear number four for the Spurs, honoring his wife, who wore the number at Texas Tech.
The future is looking bright in San Antonio, and they still hold many draft picks for the future.
Who knows if the Spurs are done making moves with the trade deadline just a few days away?
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