Wemby and the Spurs Just Got Supercharged -- Thanks to De'Aaron Fox

Daniel Waddleton

Feb 3, 2025

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IT WASN'T QUITE the Luka Doncic trade, but less than 24 hours after the sports world was rocked by the news of Doncic heading to Los Angeles, another blockbuster trade involving a California team went down.

The Sacramento Kings are finalizing a deal to send their 27-year-old star point guard, De’Aaron Fox, to the San Antonio Spurs in a multi-team trade centered around draft picks, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Sunday night.

The Chicago Bulls are also involved, sending Zach LaVine to Sacramento. As part of the deal, the Kings will receive three first-round picks (2025 Hornets, 2027 Spurs, 2031 Timberwolves), three second-round picks (2025 Bulls, 2028 Nuggets, their own 2028 pick), and Spurs guard Sidy Cissoko.

Meanwhile, the Bulls will get back their own 2025 first-round pick (via the Spurs), along with Zach Collins and Tre Jones from San Antonio and Kevin Huerter from Sacramento.

Unlike my deep dive into the Lakers-Mavs trade yesterday, I’m going to focus particularly on what this move means for San Antonio. In a quick scope for Sacramento, the return for Fox isn’t terrible, but they also just basically rebuilt the early 2020's Chicago Bulls.

Like those Bulls teams, they’re now likely stuck in NBA purgatory, a team too good to tank but not good enough to be a serious playoff threat. It’s unclear what their next steps are from here, but for Kings fans sake hopefully it's not the Bulls blueprint.

And for the Bulls themselves, I'm not really sure what they are doing. LaVine’s trade market must have been weaker than I anticipated, because their return for him was their own pick that was top 10 protected, and assuming a tank post deadline they were going to get back anyways.

Lavine is not a perfect player, but you can’t deny he was having a strong season, and on ball creators who can consistently get their own shot against any defense are incredibly valuable in the postseason. I expected him to fetch a slightly better return. In classic Chicago Bulls fashion, a headscratcher.

Be on the lookout for them to move off more veterans like Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vucevic in the coming days as well. I'm particularly interested to see where Ball lands as I think he could really help the right contender.

Now, let’s talk about San Antonio. This move is incredibly exciting because, if nothing else, it accelerates the Spurs' timeline and sets the stage for what should be a playoff mainstay featuring Victor Wembanyama.

Fox is currently averaging 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 assists on 56.7% true shooting. In his lone playoff appearance during the 2022-23 season, he was electric, putting up 27.4 points and 7.7 assists per game in a hard-fought seven-game series against the defending champion Golden State Warriors. Simply put, he’s among the best offensive players in the game.

Fox now arrives in San Antonio with a lighter burden as the team's second-best player, a role that will suit him better. Yet he still possesses the ability to scale up and carry the team when needed, something he showcased over his eight seasons in Sacramento.

Fox’s combination of outside scoring with an elite burst to get downhill and collapse the defense should pair beautifully with Wemby in two man actions, specifically pick-and-pop scenario's. The best way to counter an elite pick-and-pop duo without is to switch, but with Fox and Wemby as the tandem, that would then turn into an isolation disaster for defenses. I imagine this will become one of the highest points per play actions in basketball.

Also factor in that while Fox isn’t known for his passing in the pick-and-roll, finding Wemby for lobs as well when creating downhill advantages shouldn’t be an issue. He’s one of the best lob targets the game has ever seen.

Most of the focus will understandably be on the offensive end and how the Spurs have finally found a lead creator, but I think this could be just as intriguing defensively. Fox isn’t an elite defender, but he’s a defensive playmaker -- aggressive, with quick hands that generate steals and force turnovers. The downside? He can be beaten off the dribble, which put a lot of strain on Domantas Sabonis as a below average backline defender in Sacramento.

That won’t be as much of a concern in San Antonio. Now, Fox has a 7'5 unicorn averaging 4.1 blocks per game behind him, who’s quickly gained the reputation as the best rim deterrent in basketball. Fox can gamble and play to his strengths defensively, knowing he has Wemby as the ultimate safety net.

I’m also eager to see how Devin Vassell fits into this new setup. I’ve always been a big fan of his, but he was a bit overburdened in San Antonio’s previous structure. With Fox and Wemby commanding so much defensive attention now, Vassell should thrive as both a catch-and-shoot weapon who can also attack advantages on the second side created by their two-man game.

This move shouldn’t stunt Stephon Castle’s growth either. I know there’s dreams of him becoming San Antonio’s future point guard, but he played the two in college, showcasing elite point-of-attack defense, great feel as a connective playmaker, and a knack for making hustle plays. You can pretty clearly see the vision of him being able to coexist with Fox for years to come as part of San Antonio’s long-term core alongside Wemby.

Given their current 21-25 record, I imagine this team will finish somewhere within the play-in. And if they were to land in a 1-8 matchup against a 65-win Oklahoma City Thunder team? That would be an absolute treat for NBA fans -- a first taste of playoff Wemby against one of the league’s best.