The Spurs’ backcourt picture is getting crowded in a hurry, and that’s why De’Aaron Fox keeps showing up in trade chatter.
San Antonio is trying to build off a season in which it believed it should have beaten the Oklahoma City Thunder and made a run to the NBA Finals next summer. For stretches of that series, the Spurs were in control, but they couldn’t keep that edge late in games.
Now the bigger question is how this roster fits together. One report said the organization views Dylan Harper as the second-best player on the team.
“The Spurs internally believe Dylan Harper is their second best player. That's not a slight on De'Aaron Fox or Stephon Castle. Harper is a stud," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said.
Harper isn’t the only young guard turning heads. Stephon Castle is also in the mix, giving San Antonio another explosive perimeter piece with real defensive juice. Charles Barkley thinks that combination could turn into something scary.
“If I'm a guard in the NBA, I do not want to see them boys the next 10 years. They're going to be the new Steph and Klay," Barkley said.
That kind of optimism still leaves Fox as the odd man out in some conversations, especially with his contract. CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn floated a deal that would send Fox to the Toronto Raptors for RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley.
“Not many teams are eager to take on a contract like this, and if the Spurs could move it without paying draft picks anywhere, doing so would probably make sense. Realistically, you're probably looking at teams with bad contracts of their own to move. Maybe Toronto would flip the cheaper Immanuel Quickley along with RJ Barrett,” Quinn wrote.
For San Antonio, that kind of move would give the roster even more guard depth. Barrett and Quickley could come off the bench, and depending on how the lineup is built, either one could also slide into a starting spot at another position.
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