De’Aaron Fox Trade Rumors: NBA Execs Weigh in on Potential Deals

De'Aaron Fox, NBA trade candidate
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De'Aaron Fox, NBA trade candidate

A little more than a week before the NBA trade deadline, the league was shaken up by several reports indicating that Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox wants out of Sacramento, and that the team would be wise to move on from him before he enters the final year and $37 million of his contract.

The news was reported widely, and clearly originated from Fox’s agents at Klutch Sports. Fox is averaging 25.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.2 assists on the year and has established himself as one of the top point guards in the NBA.

Around the league, executives cautioned that, though the Kings would be in position to reap a serious haul for Fox, it might not make sense to pull off such a trade in the next week.

“I do not see why you’d do this under the gun,” one Western Conference executive said. “This looks like one of those things where you light the fuse now, then you wait until June at the draft for the bomb to go off.”

But there will be plenty of buzz around Fox in the meantime. Indications are that Fox would like to land in San Antonio, so we’ll start there.


De’Aaron Fox to the Spurs?

This does seem like the most likely destination, and obviously, Fox would be excited about joining a team that has a deep pedigree and the best young big man in the game, Victor Wembanyama.

Potential deal:  Kings get Stephon Castle, Zach Collins and Tre Jones, with two first rounders; Spurs get Fox.

The Kings would get some cap relief and also a burgeoning young replacement for Fox with Castle. The picks figure to be the sticking point, though. The Spurs have as many as three picks in this draft, and control Atlanta’s next three drafts. A 2031 pick from Minnesota has massive value.

“I think there would be a good fight to be had over which picks the Spurs would give up–they’ve got three in this (2025) draft, but they’ve got some great picks going forward, too,” the West exec said. “The Kings will want four picks here, but Fox has leverage because he is going into that final year of his deal. The Spurs can hold them over a barrel a little bit.

“I think, if something happens this week, it’s going to look something like that.”


Trade With the Nets?

The Spurs and Nets are probably the most likely landing spots for Fox, though the Nets do not want to make a trade at the deadline–they’re all in on the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.

“Brooklyn wants to sell,” one East GM said. “They’re looking to unload here, not to add a star. They’d love to come back to the table in the summer and wind up with Flagg and Fox, and that’s the thing about this whole thing–I can’t see why anyone would want to do this right now.”

Potential deal: Kings get Nic Claxton, Cam Thomas and Dariq Whitehead, with four first-round picks; Nets receive De’Aaron Fox.

The picks would be the problem here, too. The Nets have a big package of picks to offer, but they won’t trade their 2025 pick before the lottery, not with Flagg on the line. If the Nets do not get the No. 1 pick, things change.

“I don’t think the Nets have players the Kings would want, so it’d have to be a a lot of picks going to Sac for that to work,” the GM said. “There’s not huge value on the picks the Nets have, but they could us the Knicks’ future picks (in 2029 and 2031) because teams will have high values on those.”


A Miami Heat Mention

The Heat will be a team under the microscope in the coming days as they seek to iron out the situation with suspended star Jimmy Butler, who is careening toward a bitter divorce with the team. It could ultimately be too much to ask for the Heat to work out both the Butler situation and figure out how to add Fox simultaneously.

“The (Heat) should have traded Jimmy Butler a year ago,” the GM said. “The writing was on the wall but they did not want to sell low. Well, now they’re selling lower. If they’d worked all that out a year ago, they’d have assets to go after a guy like Fox.”

Potential deal: Kings receive Tyler Herro, Nikola Jokic and Ke’lel Ware for one first-rounder and two pick swaps; Heat receive De’Aaron Fox.

The Heat are sending their first-rounder out this season to Oklahoma City, and will send either their 2027 or 2028 pick to Charlotte. The Heat can trade their 2030 or 2031 first-rounder, which limits what they can do. They’d have to count on the fact that Herro (24.1 points) is a star and that Jovic could yet develop into one.

That’s a longshot, and the Heat might be in a better position to deal for Fox this summer. But that’s true of everyone.

 

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De’Aaron Fox Trade Rumors: NBA Execs Weigh in on Potential Deals

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