The San Antonio Spurs have a big question to answer this offseason. What do we do with De’Aaron Fox? Out of all the players they have on the roster, I, like many NBA fans, didn’t think that Fox would be the one to come up as short as he did. With the worst performance in a big-time moment he’s had since entering the NBA, it raises many questions. Should they trade the two-time All-Star? Is he a piece they should hold for the future? Will he be a part of the bright future of the Sputs?
Fox’s Success With San Antonio
Last season, the San Antonio Spurs traded for De’Aaron Fox in a three-team trade with the Chicago Bulls and the Sacramento Kings. In the 17 games that he played for the Spurs last season, Fox was solid with 19.7 ppg, 6.8 apg, and 1.5 spg before getting surgery on his left pinky.
He would miss the remaining 18 games, ending his 2024-2025 campaign. His numbers did drop from a scoring perspective, 25 ppg through the first 45 games with the Kings, to just under 20 a game with the Spurs. Going from THE player on a team that is going nowhere to a key piece next to Victor Wembanyama, his numbers were destined to drop. However, Fox was brought in to help be a key to their future success, not as a dominant scorer.
This past season, we saw him take even more of a backseat to the young core of Wemby, Stephon Castle, and the emergence of Dylan Harper. His shots dropped from 16.5 per game with the Spurs to 14.5. Not that much of a difference considering he averaged 18.6 ppg in the regular season.
Fox’s Nightmarish NBA Finals
The 2026 NBA Finals were dreadful for Fox and the Spurs. Not just because San Antonio lost to the New York Knicks, but Fox played terribly in these Finals. For the series, he averaged 14.6 ppg, 5.4 rpg, and 4.2 apg, on very inefficient 37.7/30/80.1 shooting splits. To put that into perspective, for the regular season, Fox’s shooting splits were 48.6/33.1/76.
Now Fox missed the first two games of the Western Conference Finals with right ankle soreness. Does that mean by the time the NBA Finals came around, he was back to 100%? No, but are we blaming his shortcomings completely on his ankle injury? Absolutely not. I believe he had a bad series against a team that was on fire.
Should the Spurs Trade Fox?
The reality in the De’Aaron Fox situation is that his ability to get in the lane and take pull-up jumpshots is extremely valuable for the Spurs. The other dynamic guards they have, Castle and Harper, aren’t good at them and don’t attempt those shots. There is value in having a veteran player like Fox, but he needs to learn how to adjust his game to play more “winning basketball.”
His blunder at the end of Game 4 told me everything I needed to know. Yes, an open layup is easier than stepping up and hitting two free throws with MSG rocking. However, it was still his blunder that turned a 2-2 “coinflip” series into a 3-1 insurmountable hole.
He enters the first year of a four-year, $229 million contract next season, with an AVV of $55.4M. That makes it difficult to trade a player coming off his worst series in the NBA and entering a max contract; the Spurs would have to find a team willing to take not just the player, but the contract. Fox is still only 28, so there is hope he will continue to get better.
There have been reports that the Spurs will not trade De’Aaron Fox this offseason, and I think that’s the right decision. If you remove him from this roster, who’s going to be the primary ballhandler against the best teams in the postseason? We already saw what Castle looked like without him in the WCF. He was turning the ball over left and right.
Final Thoughts
The basketball world can’t unsee the performance Fox just put out there. In a team full of youth and inexperience, I believed he would be the team’s exhalation. No matter the clutter or stress the team is going through, Fox could ease the team. Do you think the Spurs should move off from the 2x All-Star?
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