It was reported this week that the Kings are open to trading De’Aaron Fox, and the Spurs are the team at the top of his list. Both franchises could be under pressure to get a deal done, but how? Kevin O’Connor and Tom Haberstroh discuss what a trade package should look like in this excerpt from “The Kevin O’Connor Show” which has been edited for length and clarity.
Kevin: O.K., we gotta talk about De’Aaron Fox.
What type of package should the Kings be looking for here? Picks, players? What path should they be going?
Tom: The Donovan Mitchell package. That’s the asking price. Ton of picks. They got Lauri Markkanen. They got Collin Sexton — he was a young, 24-years-old at the time of the deal. And they got the 2022 first-round pick, Ochai Agbaji, who was just drafted. So they got three firsts unprotected, two pick swaps, and Agbaji that was effectively another first-round pick.
Kevin: That’s a lot, Tom.
Tom: Three young players, three firsts and two pick swaps. Now that’s the asking price. That’s the benchmark for De’Aaron Fox. If you’re Sacramento, you say, look, a great young player, an All-Star who is the clutch player of the year. He’s under contract for next season. What is my incentive to move him right now? You’re going to have to come in with multiple first-round picks — at least three first-round picks — and a young player to build around.
If you’re the San Antonio Spurs and you have the opportunity to go get De’Aaron Fox, you obviously want to pair Victor Wembamyama with another star for this very reason we talked about last week. For the next three years, Victor Wembanyama is going to be paid $14 million on average — this season, the season after that, and the season after that. If you acquire Fox, you’re getting an All-Star-caliber player who plays downhill in the way that you’re so desperately needing — he’s one of the top drivers in the NBA, the San Antonio Spurs are a bottom-five driving team. This seems like a seamless fit.
Sacramento gets on the phone and says, “Alright, Stephon Castle coming our way and a couple of first-round picks. And you’re the Spurs and you’re like …
Kevin: No, no, I’m not giving you Castle. No.
Tom: What’s it going to take?
Kevin: I’m not giving Castle. Castle’s a nonstarter for me. I’m not giving him. I will not give him up in a Fox deal.
Tom: But if you’re Sacramento, that’s the price it’s going to take. You look at benchmark deals of All-Star players in their prime, and granted De’Aaron Fox has only been to one All-Star Game. Donovan Mitchell was a three-time All-Star, and was two years younger than what Fox is right now. He’s also under contract.
Kevin: More playoff success and experience on Mitchell’s side too. And a better player.
Tom: Yep, I think objectively a better player at the time of the deal than what Fox is now.
So if you lower that asking price, you’re like, all right, not three firsts and two swaps and three young players. But if the deal is Zach Collins and Keldon Johnson and five first-round picks, I don’t think Sacramento says no to that. It’s going to have to be that caliber of package, because the Spurs aren’t going to put Castle in a deal. Do they put Devin Vassell into a deal? I think you want Vassell around Wemby and Fox.
What does the trade package look like, KOC?
Kevin: I put out an idea on X earlier in the week. It was a three-way including Utah, coincidentally, sending John Collins and Collin Sexton to the Kings. Some of those San Antonio salaries you’re alluding to would then instead go to Utah, with picks going to the Kings, picks going to the Jazz, Fox going to the Spurs. I think the Kings would probably get more than I put in that deal.
But if I’m the Kings, I’d rather the heavy picks-based package, even if it means not getting the player incentives like you’re talking about with Lauri Markkenen and Collin Sexton going to the Jazz in that Mitchell deal.
More from Kevin O’Connor
Ultimately, the Kings are obviously under some pressure here. They have a player who hasn’t explicitly demanded a trade, but clearly they don’t feel confident he wants to be there long-term. But they also have time, like you alluded to. He has another year on his deal. They could play this out. The team’s been playing really well lately. Maybe they go into the playoffs and they win a round, and Fox loves it there and he wants to re-sign and everything’s happy and good this summer. That’s the scenario the Spurs need to be afraid of here. Because it’s San Antonio. It’s not a big market. It’s not a place that stars really ever want to go. And they have an opportunity to go get a top player who wants to be there.
And this is the window. Like when will there be an opportunity again to get a star who wants to be on your team and a star that becomes available? I just look around the market. Who’s the next guy? Like you can dream about Anthony Edwards. You can dream about some of these guys for years from now, but there’s no guarantee that that guy is ever going to become available. And if he does become available it might not be in a situation where it makes sense for you to put the best offer on the table.
So the Spurs are definitely under pressure to make Victor Wembanyama happy, to try to maximize what this team can be when he’s on that rookie deal, and Fox might be the best shot that they can take. So they’re under pressure here as well to get something done.
Hear the full conversation on “The Kevin O’Connor Show” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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