Spurs' biggest De'Aaron Fox question won't be answered for months

No member of the San Antonio Spurs will have more pressure on him next season than De'Aaron Fox. Look, we all saw the NBA Finals, so there's no need to relitigate what happened.

To keep it short, Fox dramatically underperformed on the biggest stage and must redeem himself next season. Of course, to fully do so, he will have to dramatically improve next season and especially during the playoffs.

Despite being an All-Star and being the team's second-leading scorer, it's hard to categorize last season as anything other than disappointing for Fox. He simply never looked like the version of Fox we saw in Sacramento, with his speed having abandonned him.

The Spurs are counting on a De'Aaron Fox bounce-back season

Fox will almost certainly have a bounce-back season next year, and the Spurs are likely counting on that. After all, they didn't seriously entertain the idea of trading him this summer despite his flameout in the NBA Finals.

That suggests at least some confidence that he will improve to the mean. It also may be them being realistic about his trade value. If they could trade him after that performance, they probably would have.

Instead, they will bring him back next season, and hopefully he will be far better and help San Antonio win a championship. That would be the only way for him to truly regain his trade value.

De'Aaron Fox won't be able to quiet critics until the NBA Playoffs

I've definitely been critical of Fox during and since the NBA Finals, but I agree that it's the best course of action for the Spurs to take. Fox didn't suddenly forget how to play basketball. Instead, he was thrust into a position he wasn't used to playing.

For the Spurs to get the most out of him, he'll have to play more on-ball next season, giving him the keys to the offense.

I know that sounds risky after his NBA Finals performance, but he's already shown how good he can be with that offensive leeway. During a 10-game stretch last season—with no Victor Wembanyama or Stephon Castle—he averaged 26.8 points and 6.9 assists. He also led the team to an 8-2 record in that span.

That was ironically identical to his best seasons with the Kings. That isn't realistic playing with Castle, Wembanyama, and Dylan Harper. Still, if he's 80% of that player, he could average 21.5 points and 5.5 assists and look much more like someone worth a max contract.

Especially in the playoffs, but we won't know if he will until at least April of next year. In the meantime, we'll have to see how he responds next season.

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