sackings916 wrote:Kings trade:
DeAaron Fox
Spurs trade:
Stephon Castle
Jeremy Sochan
Zach Collins
ATL 2025 1st
ATL 2027 1st
Why for Sac - they retool and get a haul for Fox
Why fot SA- they pair Wemby with Fox
Vast overpay.
Fox is a good fit next to Wemby, and I can see why Klutch wants him in SA. That Wemby money for one, and access to Wemby’s camp for another. The Kings, despite their recent turnaround, are not going anywhere. On the other hand, Wemby is looking like the next face of the NBA despite having just turned 21. It might actually be possible for Fox to win big with the Spurs, but more to the point he will be perceived as the Robin of a public team that will get him lots of endorsements and off-court fame. In Sactown he gets none of that.
However, the Spurs are not a knee-jerk organisation that makes stupid trades. They are a very conservative organisation that doesn’t overpay. The following other facts seem relevant:
- While Fox is a nice player, he’s more of an all-star calibre guy than an all-nba guy. He is shooting 32% from 3 this year, and his career average is 33%. That’s passable, but it’s not exactly the ideal for your primary ballhandler. He’s not a great defender, which is fine, but this isn’t the guy you sell the farm for. If this was Evan Mobley or even Devin Booker, then the price would be higher.
- Fox is 27. Wemby is 21. Given how much Fox relies on his speed and athleticism, things that you don’t tend to retain as you get to 30+, the value Fox brings to Wemby moving forward isn’t as big as it seems. Fox is almost certainly going to be overpaid on the backend of his next contract.
- Fox is a free agent in 2026. The Spurs could get him for nothing then. Yes, you don’t want to risk another team getting in, but it’s better to risk that than overpay. In the words of Billy Beane; ‘The day you say you have to do something, you are screwed. Because you are going to make a bad deal. You can always recover from the player you didn't sign. You may never recover from the player you signed at the wrong price’. I think Fox’s reps are motivated to get him to the Spurs, even if they have to wait till 2026.
I think there’s zero chance the Spurs move Castle, and honestly I doubt they’re terribly interested in moving Sochan either (and the Kings probably think he’s a bad fit next to Sabonis). Vassell is up and down, I could see the Spurs moving him, but not if they don’t have to. The idea would be to start him next to Fox long term. Realistically this package is a bunch of filler like Zach Collins, Tre Jones, maybe Keldon Johnson, and some picks. When I say “some” picks, I mean just that. The Spurs aren’t trading multiple lotto picks for a guy on the way out who could theoretically walk on them. Kings fans aren’t going to like that, and if they don’t they can keep him, but the Spurs are not the sort of team that makes hasty trades and overpays.
Personally, the sorts of picks I’d be comfortable conveying if I was the Spurs would be the Bulls pick, maybe a top 10 protected Spurs pick, and a Hawks pick with top 10/lotto protection. Take it or leave it, and revisit it closer to the 26 offseason when Fox’s value is far less.