De'Aaron Fox must regain his lost speed or watch his All-Star future slip away

Lost in the San Antonio Spurs' first preseason game is an interesting De'Aaron Fox subplot that must be solved. While he has yet to play in the preseason, Fox clearly lost a step or two last season and wasn't his normal speedy self.

That lack of quickness resulted in him being far less effective than expected. Unfortunately, he didn't quiet those concerns by being a late scratch against the Atlanta Hawks.

How he looks once he plays in the preseason could be a potential bellwether for him this season. If he looks like he has regained his trademark speed, then he could have a bounce-back season, but if he doesn't, then his all-star days are behind him.

De'Aaron Fox still hasn't regained his elite speed yet

He didn't make his regular season debut until the Spurs' eighth game last year, and Fox's hot jump shooting carried him through his first 20 games. However, once his hot shooting wore off, he didn't have his quickness to fall back on. That might be the same this season.

If Fox is still limited in terms of quickness, that doesn't bode well for this season. Much of his offensive game is predicated on speed, and him not being anywhere near as fast as he was with the Sacramento Kings is a problem for the Spurs.

If that's the case, then he'll have to adjust his game to thrive in San Antonio. In Sacramento, his elite speed made him a nightmare to stay in front of in transition and in the half-court. That speed, along with his craftiness as a lefty, helped make him a 25-point-per-game scorer.

Without that quickness, Fox's likely peak is a 20-point-per-game scorer. That's far from bad, but it's not quite the max player that the Spurs were hoping for.

The Spurs must find other ways to maximize De'Aaron Fox's quickness

Last season, San Antonio played Fox primarily off-ball, which contributed to him averaging just 18.8 points per game. This season, the Spurs should aim to have Fox and Stephon Castle split playmaking responsibilities.

Having him run more pick-and-roll with Victor Wembanyama or Luke Kornet will help to negate any decrease in quickness. Still, he will have to get to the basket much more than he did last season.

When comparing his last full season in Sacramento to his first full season with the Spurs, he saw his shots within five feet of the basket decrease by 3.6 attempts per game. On the other hand, he shot well on floaters, but that suggests that he didn't have the quickness needed to get to the rim as much as he once did.

Luckily for Fox, San Antonio has plenty of talent surrounding him, so teams can't focus solely on him. And while he has yet to prove he still has that quick burst, he should still beat most guards off the dribble. It just seems he doesn't have the same quickness he once had.

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