Spurs driving toward identical failure that destroyed a franchise's future

The San Antonio Spurs traded for point guard De'Aaron Fox this past season, then drafted top point guard prospect Dylan Harper in the 2025 NBA Draft. That combination of actions could lead to the same decision point as the Sacramento Kings once faced -- and which they failed spectacularly.

Fox is entering his eighth season in the NBA, the first seven-plus spent in Sacramento. The Kings drafted him fifth overall in the 2017 NBA Draft -- the same draft where the Spurs took Derrick White with the 29th pick, for reference.

As is the case with most young point guards it took Fox a few years to get his legs under him, but by his fourth season he had cracked 25 points per game and dished 7.2 assists per game. He looked like a budding star for the Kings. The problem was that they also had another point guard on the roster -- second year passer extraordinaire, Tyrese Haliburton.

Whether Sacramento simply was trying to diversify their best players, or whether they thought Fox's ego couldn't handle a rising star at the same position, the Kings decided to move off of Haliburton. They traded for Domantas Sabonis to fortify their frontcourt and push them into the future.

While Sabonis is a polarizing player, with some believing him to be an All-NBA level star and others an overrated big outside of the Top 40 players in the NBA, everyone would agree that the Kings lost that trade. The Kings got Sabonis and kept Fox, who had one great season and two mediocre ones since the deal.

The Indiana Pacers, on the other hand, got Haliburton, who has become a fringe Top-10 player in the league, significantly better than Fox, and just led his team to within a game of the NBA Championship before suffering a torn Achilles in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. He changed the Pacers' franchise for the better; Sabonis likely put a ceiling on where the Kings can go.

Now the San Antonio Spurs have to make sure they don't make the same mistake

The Spurs have to make the right decision with Fox

Dylan Harper was an extremely highly rated prospect coming out of his freshman season at Rutgers. Most draft evaluators project him as a future All-Star, and he almost certainly would have been the No. 1 pick if he had been in the 2024 NBA Draft instead of being paired with Cooper Flagg. The Spurs got a steal with the No. 2 pick.

Harper is young, but he is big and has NBA heritage, so his learning curve in the NBA could be smaller than most. Playing alongside Victor Wembanyama is also likely to make things easier for a young guard given the way he spaces the court on offense and starts transition opportunities on defense. Harper is set up for early success.

The barrier, of course, is that he plays on a team with a veteran point guard already in place in Fox, someone whose skillset does not lend itself to scaling alongside another on-ball player like Harper. The two of them will play together, but it will not be a maximization of their abilities. Just as with Fox and Haliburton a few years ago, the fit could be awkward and build tension.

Do the Spurs alleviate that tension by trading either Fox or Harper? It's certainly not a lock, but it will be on the table. They are not in a rush; Harper needs to prove himself more Haliburton and less Scoot Henderson or Killian Hayes first. Once he does, however, the Spurs will come to a crossroads.

It will be tempting to keep Fox and turn Harper into another strong player, potentially on the wing or forward positions to slot between Fox and Wembanyama. If Victor is as good as expected over the next couple of seasons, this will be a team ready to compete. Choosing the more experienced Fox over Harper will be the natural choice.

Gregg Popovich and the Spurs front office has to resist that choice. Their path forward is not paved for them, but it probably doesn't lead to Fox being the forever answer at point guard -- and not over Harper, if he is indeed a future star. That might mean trading Fox instead; that might mean another option. Sacrificing the future and a true co-star for Wembanyama just to commit to the inconsistent Fox is almost certainly a mistake.

The Spurs have time. They have options. They have plenty of upside. And they need to make sure they don't give all of that up in a short-sighted trade. It destroyed the Sacramento Kings. It could do the same to the Spurs.