De’Aaron Fox has spent a big chunk of his San Antonio Spurs run catching heat, and the criticism hasn’t let up. Some people are already pushing for head coach Mitch Johnson to move Dylan Harper into the starting lineup. Others are still locked onto the mistakes Fox made in the NBA Finals.
That’s the price that comes with being an All-NBA veteran. But the latest viral shot at Fox goes so far that it ends up exposing how over-the-top the discourse has become.
Fox did make one of the most painful plays of the 2026 NBA Finals when he went for a layup instead of running out the clock. And sure, forcing the Knicks to foul him might have changed the game in theory.
But that one play was only part of a much bigger disaster for San Antonio. The Spurs blew a 29-point lead in Game 4, a collapse that left every player and coach in the organization with plenty to answer for. Still, Fox has taken a huge share of the blame.
That didn’t stop a social media post, which was trying to assemble the worst possible NBA player, from naming Fox for the decision-making category. The post has since piled up more than 18,000 likes.
Bro i’m crine son 😭 pic.twitter.com/vHHi7dofHk
- jose ☔️ (@KlayForTrey) September 8, 2026
The problem with the backlash is that it keeps ignoring what Fox actually is: an All-NBA guard who just started at point guard for an NBA finalist. He may have had rough moments in 2025-26, but that doesn’t erase the player he was for San Antonio.
Fox led the Spurs in minutes per game. When Victor Wembanyama missed 12 games from Nov. 16 to Dec. 10, Fox stepped up with 25.2 points and 6.5 assists per game and helped the Spurs go 9-3 in that stretch.
That’s the part of the story the criticism tends to skip. Fox changes the geometry of the floor for San Antonio, and the numbers back it up.
Per Basketball Index, he ranked in the 90th percentile in on-ball gravity and the 92nd percentile in off-ball gravity in 2025-26. He also landed in the 97th percentile in guarded by matchup difficulty and was in the 96th percentile or better in both on- and off-ball situations.
Translation: opponents were sending top defenders his way everywhere he went. That kind of attention makes life easier for everyone else.
Victor Wembanyama’s true shooting percentage was .639 with Fox on the court and .602 without him. Wembanyama also shot 38.7 percent from three with Fox and 28.0 percent without him. Stephon Castle saw the same kind of boost, hitting 40.6 percent from deep with Fox on the floor and 26.7 percent without him.
Devin Vassell benefited too, climbing from 34.8 percent without Fox to 41.9 percent with him. That’s not a small bump. That’s Fox making the Spurs work.
And it wasn’t just offense. Fox also graded out as one of the better defensive point guards in the league, finishing the 2025-26 season in the 87th percentile in perimeter isolation defense, the 89th percentile in ball screen navigation, the 76th percentile in off-ball chaser defense, and the 90th percentile in screener mobile defense. That carried over nicely into the playoffs.
None of that means the future can’t shift. Dylan Harper could eventually be the better starting point guard option, and that could even push the Spurs toward a trade that makes some of Fox’s critics feel vindicated.
But that debate is separate from what Fox is right now. It doesn’t erase his value, and it certainly doesn’t justify the one-sided pile-on he keeps getting.
In another NBA universe, Wembanyama telling the Knicks that he was in their heads and then watching a 29-point lead disappear might have become the defining target for the haters. Instead, Fox is the one taking the brunt of it.
That says plenty. So does the fact that, even with all the noise, Fox still doesn’t seem to get nearly enough credit for how good he is.
In Other News...
Dylan Harper Just Shifted The Spurs Debate Around Mitch Johnson
Dylan Harper has already found himself pulled into one of the Spurs biggest talking points, and it says something about the moment in San Antonio that a young player is being asked to weigh in on the coach. In an interview with Brandon Robinson, Harper backed Mitch Johnson and pushed back against the criticism that has followed the teams NBA Finals loss, offering a view from inside the locker room that sounded less like hot-take theater and more like a player watching the process up close.
Harper did not pretend the Finals were handled perfectly, but he put Johnsons missteps in the context of a first-year head coach learning on the fly. The bigger message was his belief in the direction of the program and the way Johnson has handled development, which makes the whole conversation feel bigger than one postseason. For the Spurs, the interesting part may be how closely Harpers own early-career path mirrors Johnsons, with both trying to grow through the pressure rather than be defined by it. [Read more 🡒]
Tobias Harris Could Fix A Spurs Problem That Ruined Big Moments
Tobias Harris arrives in San Antonio with a skill set the Spurs have been missing at times, especially in the half court. He does not need the ball in his hands to matter, and his blend of steady scoring and careful decision-making gives the roster another reliable option when possessions start to get tight. For a team that has long valued efficient offense and smart play, that matters as much as any splashy addition.
The appeal is not just what Harris can score, but how he does it. His low turnover rate gives the Spurs a cleaner path to maintaining possession, and that kind of stability has been a recurring issue in the biggest moments. If his style meshes the way the front office hopes, he could become one of those understated pieces who helps prevent the kind of late-game breakdowns that have haunted San Antonio before. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Rookies Already Bring One Big Hope And One Real Concern
The Spurs came out of the 2026 NBA Draft with four new names to sort through, and there is already a clear early read on the group. Jayden Quaintance, Tarris Reed Jr., Ja'Kobi Gillespie and Maliq Brown each bring a different skill set, which is part of the appeal for a team still shaping its next layer of depth around Victor Wembanyama. Defense, shooting and versatility all factor into how quickly any of them can matter, and the debut-year expectations are spread across a range rather than pinned to one outcome.
Quaintance offers the biggest upside, but his path is clouded by health, while Reed has the kind of size that could make him useful in the frontcourt mix if the Spurs need help there. Gillespie and Brown both give San Antonio options in different ways, depending on what the team needs from the back half of the rotation. It is the sort of rookie class that gives the Spurs real hope because of its variety, but it also comes with an obvious reminder that not every piece will be ready on the same timetable. [Read more 🡒]