The San Antonio Spurs picked up a massive Game 4 win to tie the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night, and De’Aaron Fox played a key part in it.
A 12-point, 10-rebound, five-assist performance in just his second game back from injury helped the Spurs to a 21-point win when they needed it most.
While Fox is—and has been—an important piece of the puzzle in San Antonio, a recent report from Sam Amick of The Athletic suggests that his time as a Spur may not last much longer with the emergence of young stars Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle.
“Here he is in his first postseason with the Spurs, having forced his way to San Antonio last season as part of his Sacramento Kings exit plan, and there’s already league-wide chatter about how his time here might be cut short.
The assertion, shared by rival executives and media folks alike, is that rookie guard Dylan Harper (the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft) is simply too good to come off the bench for long and will eventually need to start alongside second-year guard Stephon Castle (the No. 4 pick in 2024). And because of the cost considerations that sort of development would force tough conversations about whether Fox could remain part of the future if he was coming off the bench,”
The 28-year-old Fox is in just the first season of the four-year, $221,760,000 contract extension he signed with the Spurs in August, which runs through the 2029-30 campaign.
This was Fox’s first full season in San Antonio after being acquired with the expectation that he would be the star guard to pair alongside Victor Wembanyama for years to come. However, the Spurs jumping from eighth all the way up to second overall to draft Dylan Harper in 2025 changed everything, and now it seems possible that Fox could be on the move once again.
If that is the case, there should be no shortage of interested suitors for the two-time All-Star, who averaged 25-plus points per game in four of his final five seasons with the Sacramento Kings before being traded to San Antonio.
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