The Spurs have spent this summer saying the right things about De'Aaron Fox, even as the shape of their backcourt starts to point in a different direction.
San Antonio is clearly building around Dylan Harper, Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanyama, but the front office is still tied to Fox after committing $222 million over four seasons. That leaves the Spurs in a tricky spot: Harper needs the kind of reps that come with a bigger role, yet Fox remains a player they can’t simply shove aside without consequence.
That’s where the real tension lives. Harper looks ready to take over as the starter, and if he does, the Spurs will have to figure out how to handle Fox without turning the situation messy.
Trading him would solve the fit issue, but his value is described as being at an all-time low, which means San Antonio wouldn’t exactly be staring at a huge return. There’s also the matter of Rich Paul, one of the NBA’s most powerful agents, which adds another layer to any decision the Spurs make.
One path out of this comes if Fox decides he wants out first. If he’s moved to the bench and doesn’t handle that well, he could ask for a trade himself.
As Jahlil Williams wrote, "A crazy Harper leap could force Mitch to consider putting Fox on the bench, even if he never intended things to go that way," wrote FanSided's Jahlil Williams. "Maybe the nine-year professional would let those things roll off his back, but most athletes have large egos, so that's not a sure thing.
None of this means a trade is inevitable, but it does mean that San Antonio could have a delicate roster decision on their hands."
Even then, Fox wouldn’t have the kind of leverage players usually have when they push for a move. He still has four seasons left on his contract, so this wouldn’t be the familiar last-year-of-deal standoff where a team is forced to take whatever it can get. The Spurs would still hold the cards.
What they wouldn’t have is much room to expect a strong trade package. If Harper is clearly outplaying Fox early in the season, that would only underline a tougher truth: Fox may no longer be a star-level player. That kind of decline makes it harder to extract real value in a deal.
So the cleanest outcome for San Antonio may be the simplest one: trade Fox if the right path opens up, and do it without creating unnecessary bad blood along the way.
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San Antonio's own lesson from the 2026 Finals is the part that still hangs in the air. The Spurs were in position to close out the title, only to let the chance slip away, and that kind of experience tends to travel with a team. If these two franchises cross paths again, the Spurs would have the benefit of having lived through the mistake once already, while the Knicks would be left wondering whether the same pressure points are waiting for them again. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Suddenly Have A Young Core Debate Few Teams Can Match
The Spurs have gone from a rebuild built around promise to one suddenly rich with options, and CBS Sports recently took notice by placing Victor Wembanyama alongside either Stephon Castle or Dylan Harper at the top of the NBAs young-duo conversation. It is the kind of recognition that speaks to how quickly San Antonios foundation has changed, with Wembanyama already establishing himself as the franchise centerpiece and the supporting talent around him looking more and more like it belongs in a serious long-term plan.
What makes the debate so compelling is that the Spurs may not be limited to a simple two-man discussion for long. Castle and Harper both bring the kind of upside that gives San Antonio enviable flexibility, and DeAaron Fox only adds another layer to a core that can be argued with the leagues best groups on paper. For a team that has spent years chasing the next wave, the bigger question now is not whether the talent is real, but how far this cluster of high-end pieces can push the organization once it fully settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Garnett Nostalgia Is Creating A New Timberwolves Debate
The basketball card market keeps finding new ways to reward collectors chasing the stars of the 1990s, and San Antonios place in that conversation is no small one. Alongside names like Allen Iverson and Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan has been part of a broader surge that has pushed values higher across the hobby, with cards tied to that era drawing fresh attention from buyers who once might have focused mostly on the biggest marquee names from Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O'Neal.
For Spurs fans, the intrigue is less about nostalgia than about what it says regarding Duncans standing in the games collecting economy. Recent auction results and sharp price increases have shown that there is real demand building around his cards, but the market is still sorting out just how high that ceiling can go as the hobby reassesses players whose prime came before todays boom in card speculation. [Read more 🡒]