There have been rumblings that De’Aaron Fox wanted out of Sacramento since the firing of their head coach Mike Brown last month. Well, those rumors finally came to pass late last night, Feb. 2. While everybody was enjoying the Grammy Awards, the San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls and the Sacramento Kings were trying to iron out the next NBA blockbuster. When it all finally came together, here are the final details.
Full trade details are below.
Spurs: De’Aaron Fox, Jordan McLaughlin
Kings: Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, three first-round picks (2025 CHA, 2027 SAS, 2031 MIN), three second-round picks (2025 CHI, 2028 DEN, 2028 own back)
Bulls: Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, their own 2025 pick via SAS
The obvious winner of this trade is without a doubt the Spurs. Whoever gets the best player in the trade tends to be the one who comes out on top, and Fox is easily the best and most impactful player in the entire trade. Fox is one of the quickest young guards in the league and he’s having a career year. Fox is averaging 25.0 points, 6.1 assists and 5.0 rebounds this season. He is fourth on the Kings’ all-time scoring list already, after being selected by Sacramento with the fifth overall pick in 2017. He will pair up with the reigning Rookie of the Year, Victor Wembanyama, who is averaging 24.6 points, 10.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the season.
This should put not only the Western Conference, but the entire NBA on notice. Wemby is him. There are no more debates on if Wemby is an elite player in the league, the real question now is can he become the best player in the league, and in his sophomore season he is showing that he is a lot closer to that mantle than most people think. Pair him alongside Fox, a guard who can score, pass and defend, the Spurs might have just saved their season. Now instead of worrying if they will be competing for a play-in spot, the rest of the West should be worried about facing them come playoff time, because with these two stars paired together, they have the talent to beat anybody. It is now a matter of how high they will climb in the West.
The Sacramento Kings are hoping this trade will turn their season around as well. To say their season up until this point has been a disappointment would be nice. They came into the season with hopes of making it back to the playoffs and those dreams haven’t materialized yet, but there is now a new spark of hope due to this trade. LaVine now rejoins former Bulls teammate DeMar DeRozan in Sacramento, and they still have Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray and Malik Monk. The Kings are only .500 right now at 24-24 overall, but this trade can be the jolt needed to save their season. And even if it doesn’t and they continue to lose, the Kings got some great draft capital back as well.
