Although the San Antonio Spurs clearly have the solid foundation necessary to make their presence felt in the postseason, their offseason stress could be higher than most.
Why? The franchise must decide which direction to go in with their two-time All-Star veteran point guard before the 2026-27 campaign commences.
That’s right, De’Aaron Fox, whom the Spurs acquired before the 2024-25 trade deadline, no longer has a clear future with the five-time NBA champions. The former Sacramento Kings star’s postseason couldn’t have been more disastrous, as he was detrimental to the Spurs’ success, particularly in the NBA Finals.
One could argue that if Dylan Harper had received a more significant opportunity toward the end of their fourth-round series vs. the New York Knicks, the Spurs’ season would have lasted a bit longer. CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin likes the idea of the franchise cutting ties with Fox this summer in favor of an ex-Golden State Warriors superstar.
“Don’t put too much stock into Fox’s struggles in the Finals,” Botkin wrote Friday. “He was an All-Star last year. He’s still very good. He would kill as a sixth man, and you can never have enough high-end injury insurance as long as you can afford it.
“That said, the Spurs would probably prefer to trade Fox, assuming they can get fair value back, if only to avoid the potential drama of benching him for Harper or having to walk the fine line all season of appeasing him in a three-guard lineup.”
“Plenty of teams should be interested. The Rockets make sense (a Kevin Durant/Fox swap would make a measure of sense for both sides).”
The Spurs appeared to be a viable landing spot for Durant last offseason, as leaving the underachieving Phoenix Suns for a promising young Spurs squad led by generational center Victor Wembanyama felt like a reasonable possibility.
As we know, though, the Suns elected to trade Durant to the Houston Rockets via a massive seven-time trade. The two-time NBA champion showed that his polished, high-octane scoring was still a strong suit in Year 18, averaging 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game, shooting 52.0% from the field and 41.3% from beyond the arc.
The $1 million question is, are the Rockets already open to trading Durant? The former No. 2 overall pick was acquired by Houston last summer to help it make valiant runs at championships in the immediate future.
Swapping Durant for Fox would signal the Rockets’ intent to abandon their master plan and take a noticeable step back. It’s unlikely Houston would be willing to do so, given their commitment to completing a historic trade to poach Durant from Phoenix.
That said, all it would take is the right offer for the Spurs to move off Fox’s enormous $229 million contract and land a future Hall of Fame forward who’s no stranger to winning titles on a loaded and relatively well-rounded Western Conference squad.
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