Fascinating question about De'Aaron Fox’s starring role deserves real consideration

The San Antonio Spurs recently made their first big in-season trade in years by acquiring star De'Aaron Fox to be Victor Wembanyama's co-star. However, with the emergence of Stephon Castle, it leads to questions about his long-term role with the Spurs as their second option.

After all, Stephon Castle is rapidly improving, averaging 17.3 points over the last 16 games. Not just that, but his biggest flaw before joining the Spurs, his shooting, is looking more and more like an asset.

Over the last dozen games, he's shooting 40.4% from three on 3.9 attempts per game. That might not be sustainable, but if he is an above-average shooter on a high volume going forward, his ceiling as a player dramatically increases.

That development would suddenly close the gap between Fox and Castle, with Castle being several years younger and still getting better while Fox is currently entering his prime. In the short term, the answer would obviously appear to be Fox.

He is the more established player and was having arguably his best season prior to being traded to the Spurs. Thus far, he has done little to dissuade the Spurs from seeing him as a 1A or second option once he gets fully acclimated. However, the potential of Castle is sky-high.

Who should the Spurs prioritize going forward: Fox or Castle?

Fox will likely be the team's secondary star behind Wembanyama for the foreseeable future, assuming that they extend him this summer. He is just 27 years old and could sign a four-year extension, making him a Spur through his age-32 season.

Fast guards who are reliant on their athleticism don't tend to age well, but he will still be relatively young and hopefully playing at or near the same level he's at right now. Then again, Castle is only 20 and will be 25 years old by then. That could possibly create a similar dynamic to that of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker.

Their age gap helped the Spurs, with Parker being given the reins when Ginobili got older and perhaps the same being the case with Fox and Castle. That, of course, assumes that Castle continues to develop and evolves into the team's third star behind Wembanyama and Fox.

Overall, Fox will be the Spurs' second option for the foreseeable future, but Castle will hopefully develop into a third option. As both players age, that may change with Castle emerging as Wembanyama's right-hand man, but for now, it's Fox.