D’Aaron Fox to Spurs Trade Grade: Spurs 2nd Best Team in West?
The rumors kept persisting and eventually they turned out to be true. Today, February 2nd, the Spurs landed their biggest ever superstar trade by trading away a bare minimum assortment of players and picks.
When you think of the best scenarios possible, this was the best scenario possible:
The Spurs gave up their Charlotte pick from this year (a 1st that converts to two 2nds if Charlotte doesn’t make the playoffs), their own 2027 1st, the 2031 Minnesota 1st, and returned Chicago’s pick to them.
The only pick with clear potential is the 2031 Minnesota 1st, which is six years away.
The grade here is an A+. This is a runaway win for the Spurs, and Brian Wright deserves a lot of credit for keeping all of the valuable picks along with their young core.
Another nice win for the Spurs was unloading Zach Collins and his contract. I was all for Collins when the Spurs acquired him, but if you watch enough games, it’s evident that he is beyond done.
I like Tre Jones as a solid backup point guard, but obviously he’s no longer needed.
Even though this was an absolutely colossal trade for the Spurs, there’s not much to say about it because the Spurs came out as the clear-cut winner; there’s nothing to criticize, as the Spurs gave up very little and won the gem in the trade.
De’Aaron Fox was rated as the 19th best trade asset in Bill Simmons’ trade value rankings, and the Spurs just scooped him up. Obviously, the Spurs’ cause was tremendously aided because Fox was forcing the Kings’ hand, but just the fact that a major free agent was demanding to go to the Spurs was a major win.
As far as Fox himself, he’s obviously a really good player, but I don’t have a good feel for how good he is and how good he might be.
I don’t watch Sacramento Kings games — guilty as charged.
One good bullet point is that Fox just turned 27 less than two months ago, on December 20th. Fox is a young 27, and we’re likely staring at 4 consecutive years of pure prime basketball.
After that, my concern is how fast and how steep the drop-off will be, given that he’s a guy that dominates based on his speed, quickness, and athleticism.
But what are you going to do?
These opportunities are few and far between, and 4 years of prime De’Aaron Fox is huge.
Another detractor is the Spurs will have to pay him humongous bags of money very soon, but, again, so what?
Any star player is going to command big money, so that’s just something that comes with the territory of putting together an elite team.
One more note: Fox has presumably worked out most of his early-year flaws, and he has valuable experience as the #1 from his years with the Kings. The Spurs get him just as he’s entering his prime. That’s another huge plus.
Spurs vs. The League
I’m sure OKC saw this trade and some concern crept in. Same for the other elite teams and fringe contenders.
Here’s how I have the rankings:
- OKC
- Boston
- Cavs
- Choose one
The Knicks, Bucks, Nuggets, Grizzlies, Rockets, and Spurs could all make sense at #4.
But the Spurs no longer would need a major upset to advance in the playoffs — they’re legitimately in the mix to knock off any of these teams.
It all depends on how well Fox integrates with the Spurs and how much more Victor can improve as the season progresses.
What’s for sure is the Spurs are now extremely, extremely strong (with depth), and Fox is going to make the game easier for everyone else.
Hopefully Chris Paul still gets 20+ minutes per game and continues to be active in coaching the team.
Quick Turnaround
We’ve gone from Gregg Popovich tanking in Victor’s rookie season to the Spurs being a legitimate contender in his sophomore year. That was quick.
RIP Mavericks
One last note, I don’t know what shenanigans were pulled for Nico Harrison to trade Luka Doncic for 35 cents on the dollars, but, whatever the case, that was the worst trade in NBA history and the Mavericks are now dead in the water.
It’s over. And they may even make a playoff run this season, but it’s still all over.
No one makes that trade. No one.
I touch on my preliminary conspiracy theory here:
