With less than two weeks remaining until the NBA trade deadline, a report by ESPN's Shams Charania sent shockwaves around the league. The Sacramento Kings will now reportedly shop all-star point guard De'Aaron Fox ahead of the trade deadline, with the San Antonio Spurs expected to be the frontrunner to land Fox.
JUST IN: The Sacramento Kings are expected to open up talks to potentially deal All-Star De'Aaron Fox ahead of Feb. 6 trade deadline, sources tell ESPN. There will be plenty of suitors, but it's believed that Fox has a target destination in mind ahead of 2026 free agency. pic.twitter.com/Oh3fXgZjm3
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 28, 2025
Acquiring a superstar midseason is a tough feat, but the Spurs are actually well-positioned to do so. They've made several shrewd moves to give themselves the opportunity to cash in and trade for a star when the time is right.
One of those trades occurred on draft night when they traded the 8th overall pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for a top-one protected 2030 pick swap and a 2031 unprotected first. That trade proved controversial at the time, with Spurs fans wanting them to take Rob Dillingham, which they actually did, only to trade him to Minnesota.
However, that deal could result in San Antonio landing Fox. San Antonio will undoubtedly have to give up multiple first-round picks to acquire Fox, and one of those Minnesota selections could be valuable, particularly the 2031 unprotected first from the Wolves.
The Spurs can turn the assets from a polarizing trade into De'Aaron Fox
If one of those picks ends up being included in a potential Fox trade, then that would be big for the Spurs. After all, tracing the origin of those picks back even further, they go all the way back to the Kawhi Leonard trade.
The Spurs traded Leonard and Danny Green for Jacob Poeltl, DeMar DeRozan, and a first-round pick. They later traded Poeltl back to Toronto in a deal that netted them a future Raptors pick, which ended up being the 8th selection in last year's draft.
Turning Leonard into other assets, including potentially Fox, would be a surprising turn of events that could get San Antonio back into title contention. As for a potential trade with the Kings, San Antonio could offer Devin Vassell, Zach Collins, Atlanta's 2025 first, Chicago's future first-round pick, and the Timberwolves 2031 first for Fox.
That could be a reasonable trade for both sides, with Vassell giving them a solid starter and them having three firsts to add to their draft stockpile. As for the Spurs, parting with Vassell would hurt, especially their spacing, but they would at least get some bang for their buck by getting off of Collins' contract.
Fox would be a massive upgrade and give San Antonio a 1A star to pair with Wembanyama, and that controversial draft night trade could help make that happen.