Spurs of the moment

De'Aaron Fox lands in San Antonio after all.

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

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Queen Elizabeth I of England Receives Dutch Ambassadors; Levina Teerlinc; 1560

When the Spurs signed Chris Paul and took on Harrison Barnes in a trade over the summer, it seemed like an acknowledgement that while the franchise didn’t plan to rush the process of building a high-quality team around Victor Wembanyama, they didn’t want to unnecessarily hold him back either. So they kept the young players already in place and added another via the draft, added some veteran help at little cost (in fact, Barnes came with a major sweetener) and rolled the ball out on Year 2 of the Wembanyama era.

Wembanyama is now an All-Star, should make second or third team All NBA and will be on some MVP ballots. The Spurs are in the play-in hunt in the West a year after winning just 22 games. So on Sunday, the Spurs took the next logical step in their evolution: they added a true veteran co-star to Big Vic’s team and traded for De’Aaron Fox.

Fox is 27 with one All-NBA nod under his belt. He’s in the mix for stars just under the All-NBA tier — about the 20th best player in the league, or so. His primary challenge has been that he was drafted by the Sacramento Kings and has experienced the associated, unavoidable instability. His career has been a raging success for a No. 5 pick. Unfortunately, his career has also been unfairly marred by who he is not. He’s not Jayson Tatum (Pick No. 3 in 2017, which would have been the Kings’ if not for the 2016 salary dump pick swap with Sam Hinkie), he’s not Luka Doncic (purportedly skipped in favor of Marvin Bagley II in 2018 due to fear of conflicts with Fox), he’s not Tyrese Haliburton (drafted in 2020, traded a couple years later for fear of misalignment with Fox).

Fox is a really good scorer and decent playmaker whose defense has improved in recent years (the close-out that got Mike Brown fired notwithstanding). He alone isn’t the perfect co-star for Wembanyama. But with Stephon Castle and Devin Vassell? We’re starting to cook here. That’s in part due to the fact that the Spurs didn’t have to give up Castle or Vassell to get Fox.

Why?