Grading De'Aaron Fox's tantalizing debut for the San Antonio Spurs

Despite making meaningful strides this season, San Antonio has desperately needed a second option behind Victor Wembanyama. San Antonio hopes they got that with De'Aaron Fox, who averages slightly more points this season than Wemby, at 25.1 per game compared to the Alien's 24.4.

If Fox can be that same caliber of offensive player that he was with the Kings, then he will be well worth the modest trade package they gave up for him. That leads to his anticipated debut against the Atlanta Hawks, with Spurs fans hoping that he can help them right the ship and get them back in playoff contention.

Grading De'Aaron Fox's debut for the San Antonio Spurs

Fox got off to a slow start in the first quarter as he got used to his new teammates. Fortunately, he began to settle in once he started to look for his shot more and cook during the first half, dropping 18 points. He knocked down a couple of threes midway through the first, including a pull-up three in transition. Then, he got several easy baskets by simply being active in the fast break.

The pace at which he plays was on full display. Fox playing alongside Paul gave the Spurs two different playmaking styles. Paul tends to walk the ball up the floor, often not crossing half-court until a couple of seconds before a backcourt violation. Meanwhile, Fox was notably faster getting the ball up the court, often advancing the ball in three or four seconds.

That might not seem like much, but the Spurs have played at a league-average pace, and playing faster could lead to a more efficient offense. The Spurs might not be able to play that way all the time, as it may cause Wembanyama to tire faster, but they did it in bursts with Fox.

De'Aaron showed a sign of things to come in his debut

He sought to push the pace against Atlanta by throwing several hit-ahead passes and sprinting off direct handoffs to get into the paint to collapse the defense. That worked well, leading to 13 assists.

He did struggle to finish in the second half, having several makeable misses after he cooled off. Even so, he finished with 24 points, albeit on 22 shots. To his credit, Fox wasn't shy for most of the night, and that mostly led to good things.

Wembanyama had a monster putback in the final two minutes of the game simply by taking advantage of the attention Fox drew on a drive to the rim. We'll definitely see more of that with Wembanyama potentially racking up plenty of easy baskets with Fox now joining Stephon Castle as the team's slashers.

Overall, there was a lot to like from Fox's debut. He showed that he can push the pace, knock down triples, sprint into the paint, hit pull-ups, and finish in the lane. Great start for the new franchise point guard.

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