The San Antonio Spurs are only weeks from the start of training camp, but the move they didn’t make this offseason still hangs over the franchise.
De’Aaron Fox’s first full season in San Antonio didn’t exactly quiet the doubts. He did make the NBA All-Star team, but his scoring dropped by nearly seven points from where he was a season and a half earlier with the Sacramento Kings. That alone is enough to make the upcoming max deal look uneasy, and the Spurs will soon be on the hook for it.
That’s what makes the missed opportunity so intriguing. San Antonio had a chance to explore a different direction, one that would have taken them out from under that commitment before it fully kicked in.
The idea centered on Kevin Durant.
The Houston Rockets were quiet this offseason too, and the possibility existed that they could have been open to a Durant-for-Fox exchange. Fox was coming off an awful NBA Finals performance, but a straight player-for-player swap could have made sense for both sides. Houston needed a point guard, and San Antonio had the chance to reset its roster outlook.
Durant remains one of the league’s most polarizing names, and he seemed to wear out his welcome in Houston last season even while turning in a strong year. Still, if the Spurs had dangled Fox and maybe another asset or two, the framework of a deal might have been there. Even the Atlanta Hawks’ 2027 first and another piece could have been part of the conversation.
The logic is pretty clear: Durant would have fit San Antonio better than Fox, at least in this window. Fox is set to begin a five-year max extension, while Durant only has one guaranteed year left on his contract.
And that’s the part the Spurs may regret most. A Durant trade could have helped right away and also given them flexibility down the road.
In the short term, Durant would have brought an elite offensive punch capable of hammering teams like the New York Knicks. In the long term, getting a season - maybe two - from Durant would have spared San Antonio from committing to Fox at max money for the next five years.
That path is probably gone now. By passing on Durant, the Spurs have made their choice with Fox.
In Other News...
Spurs Rookie Could Force A Tough Change Behind Victor Wembanyama
Victor Wembanyama is set atop the Spurs frontcourt hierarchy, but the real intrigue may come behind him, where the battle for backup center minutes is already taking shape. Rookie Tarris Reed Jr. has entered the mix alongside veteran Luke Kornet, and San Antonio has reason to view the competition as a healthy one, especially with the roster looking deeper and more functional in the paint than it has in recent seasons.
Reed brings the kind of size and physical presence that can change the tone of a second unit on both ends of the floor, and that gives this race a little more weight than a routine camp fight for minutes. Kornet still has experience on his side, but the Spurs could be forced into a tougher decision if Reeds impact shows up quickly, because the frontcourt rotation may be one of the more important places for San Antonio to gain an edge this season. [Read more 🡒]
Keldon Johnson Faces A Spurs Role Shift That Could Define Camp
Keldon Johnson heads into Spurs training camp with a different kind of responsibility hanging over him. After years of being asked to do plenty with the ball, his place in the rotation is set to look more streamlined as San Antonio sorts through roster changes and tries to clarify where everyone fits. Even after a rough postseason stretch, Johnson is still in the mix, and the larger question is how his game meshes with a group that is trying to sharpen its identity.
For Johnson, the shift points toward a more specialized role than the one he has carried before, one built less around creation and more around doing the dirty work that helps the lineup function. How well that translates alongside the teams newer pieces and the players pushing for bigger on-ball opportunities will be one of camps more interesting storylines, because the Spurs are clearly treating this as more than a minor tweak. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Are Becoming A Matchup Nightmare Defenses Can't Solve
The Spurs are starting to look like the kind of team defenses have to solve in layers, and that is a problem when Victor Wembanyama is already forcing one set of adjustments. Add De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle, two guards with very different ways of putting pressure on the floor, and San Antonio suddenly has multiple ways to tilt a possession before the defense even gets settled.
What makes the group even trickier is how the supporting cast fits around those headliners. Dylan Harper gives the Spurs another downhill presence to keep the offense moving, while Tobias Harris adds a veteran option who can fit into different matchups and make opponents choose their compromises carefully. For teams trying to game-plan a night in San Antonio, the challenge is not just stopping one star, but figuring out which version of the Spurs is coming at them next. [Read more 🡒]