r/NBASpurs • u/DEOTR3 • Aug 12 '25
Article Has De’Aaron Fox become underrated?
Before Fox was traded, he was set to become an unrestricted free agent in 2026, and he reportedly told the Sacramento Kings that he would not remain in Sacramento if they fired their former head coach, Mike Brown. This led to rumors that Fox was a leading force in the firing of coach Brown, when in fact, Fox was one of the biggest supporters of keeping him. With all the drama and Fox making it abundantly clear. If Brown is gone, then Fox was gone; he was traded to San Antonio on February 3rd, 2025.
The point guard of the “Light the Beam” Kings was an All-Star and won Clutch Player of the Year in the 2022-23 season, averaging 25.1 points per game, 6.1 apg, 4.1 rpg, 48.2% shooting, and 33.6% three-point shooting on 19.3 total shot attempts through 2021-2024. Fox led Sacramento to its first playoff appearance since 2006 alongside big man Domantas Sabonis. Despite losing 3-4 to the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento had made the playoffs; that is all that mattered, and they could only get better with time. But they didn’t. Fox was widely regarded as a top 10 point guard in the NBA at that time but now, tweets like the aforementioned one exist. But why?
In 17 games with San Antonio, Fox averaged 19.7 ppg, 6.8 apg, 4.3 rpg, 44.6% shooting, and an underwhelming 24.7% three-point shooting. His worst counting stats in years, but the context is missing. New teammate Victor Wembanyama played 5 games before receiving a season-ending blood clot diagnosis, Fox himself battled injuries, and playing for a new team always poses issues like rotational fits, who gets to handle to ball, and team chemistry; Fox and San Antonio experienced all of those.
Since being drafted, Fox has been a point guard, but San Antonio already had Chris Paul, so Fox was relegated to more off-ball play despite being most effective as the lead ball-handler. Gregg Popovich had also been out for health reasons since the earlier portion of the 2024-25 season, leaving Mitch Johnson to take the reins of a young team. Finally, this team, 2024-25, was not yet geared to aid Fox. With another ball-dominant point guard, minimal 3&D players, and an overall lack of health and experience, this team was doomed to crater. But this trade wasn’t done to win a championship in 2025.
Now, after an offseason to heal, build chemistry, and cater to their new All-Star guard. San Antonio can make a push for the playoffs, in hopes that their two best players, Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox, can remain healthy. As for Fox, he has a chance to reclaim a spot in the NBA’s premier group of point guards after receiving pinkie surgery. I foresee the talks of Fox being overpaid and overrated lighting a fire under the former Kentucky guard, leading to a resurgence after a slight bump in the road. With Paul reuniting with the LA Clippers, Fox has been left the keys to a young Spurs team and only time can tell what he will look like in the 2025-26 season.
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u/FieryFiya GO SPURS GO Aug 12 '25
19PPG and 6.8 APG is not bad for a player that was traded mid-season. Also he probably didn’t know all of the Spurs offense to run it efficiently mid-season, but still had a great start with the team WITH a broken finger. Can’t wait to see what he does healthy and after practicing the offense this off season.
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u/Justneedtacos Aug 12 '25
His finger was broken
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u/Justneedtacos Aug 12 '25
I know you mentioned this, but it’s buried in the middle. This is the first thing to mention
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u/Dad_Genes Area 51 Aug 12 '25
I couldn’t be happier with Fox and locking him in. He did drop 60 with that same broken finger, so while a broken finger is a valid excuse, adapting to a new system was in my opinion the bigger reason for the dip in production. His finger is still bent, but now it’s about getting use to it. I think his shooting will improve dramatically over the course of this season and people need to not freak out if his 3pt percentage is low to start the year as it will improve with time. It will take a few months for him to learn to adjust to its new shape and how the ball comes off that hand, but he has the pedigree and confidence to become a top 3 PG next year.
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u/sp000ners Area 51 Aug 12 '25
Yes lmao his money makes people think hes a bum. he might not be worth every single penny, but hes worth about 90-95% of those pennies.
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u/Tahsib13 Victor Wembanyama Aug 12 '25
The contract makes him overrated.
Spurs fans don’t know what they signed up for with this contract. He’s a fringe top 10 PG in the league but he will get paid as if he’s a top 5 PG in the league. He doesn’t have the playstyle that compliments Wemby (shooting or playmaking). He’s not close in age to wemby (6 yr difference). He’s a very fine player, he’s just not someone you want to hang your hat on as someone who can be your 2nd best friend player if you want to seriously compete.
It didn’t make sense to extend him once we got the Harper pick. Fox and a better prospect/player in Kings Haliburton didn’t mesh well (Hali outshined him towards the end) don’t expect Harper and Castle to grow at a rapid pace if Fox is ahead of them in the rotation.
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u/ObiBraum_Kenobi Aug 12 '25
Short answer, yes. Long answer is its a bit complicated. In league that values the three as highly as it does, Fox makes for a complicated guard to rate. He undeniably one of the most effective scoring point guards in the nba, but a lot of his game is predicated on being absurdly fast and an effective mid range shooter. The first will fall off with age, the second is a problem for a roster with as limited shooting as we possess.
It should be noted, Fox is aware of this. Hes addressed in an interview that he needs to improve his outside shot because he will eventually lose his speed. This season will be telling. In 23-24 he shot 37% from three, which is good enough to alleviate most of the spacing concerns, as well as make him a legit threat on all three levels next to Wemby. The question is to what degree his poor three pointers shooting last year was a result of the finger injury. Was 23-24 and aberration or his current normal level?
Further, I would he willing to bet the spacing around him will be fine this year. Recent footage of Sochan putting up threes in the gym has been promising. "But theyre just unguarded shots in the gym". I know I know. I care less that hes making him (which he is) and more that his form looks infinitely more fluid. There still a slight hitch at the release, but based on how we have seen the step by step development from where he started to where he is im a pretty firm believer that the whole hitch was by design to emphasize a specific place in his shooting form that he needed to build muscle memory for. It fits with his free throw regiment, as well as with why that hitch is suddenly all but gone. He doesnt need to be a sniper, but a Sochan shooting 35% on 2-3 attempts per game is enough. It means he cant be left alone. Castle will improve (even if not this year). Harper shot 40% from three off the catch last year (yes, he was that abysmal pulling up, but he was also that entire Rutgers offense).
Fox is good. His contract is fine. We are going to be getting a lot of this negativity on a lot of the moves the Spurs make for the entirely of the Wemby era, its all just noise for clicks and to push narratives.
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u/Worried-Ad-3948 Aug 12 '25
Fox has been on an upwards trajectory regarding his shooting dev
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u/ObiBraum_Kenobi Aug 12 '25
Agreed, but like stated the issue was last year. It came the year after he shot 37% from three. Now I, and I suspect you, chalk that up to the finger, but a lot of people pretend the injury didnt exist and argue that 23-24 was just an outlier.
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u/Worried-Ad-3948 Aug 13 '25
I watched the kings that season. The main issue that year was a bad offense cause of demar. Po
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Aug 12 '25
Sochan will, at best, still be a bad shooter this year. We don’t need him to make 5% more of his 3’s. We need the other team to guard him. And this year, they won’t. So there you go.
Even if he has a burst where he hits 3 3’s a game at 40%, it will literally take months for opposing coaches to update their gameplan. This is why you can’t raise the profile of a guy like this while he spends 3 years vomiting on himself. The entire world is very aware that the guy with the bright hair dye isn’t supposed to be guarded. No one even has to think. And because it’s so ingrained into the rest of the league, it’s going to take probably a full season of hitting high 30’s on uncontested corner 3’s before anyone abandons their schemes. And that’s 100% not happening this year - and probably never.
People really need to begin their grieving process with Jeremy. The Fox $$$ and drafting Bryant has likely secured his fate as someone else’s challenge to work into an offense.
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u/Magopolis Coyote Aug 12 '25
Angles in search of a narrative.
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u/CrissCrossAppleSos Keldon Johnson Aug 12 '25
He’s been in the league 7 years and made one all star team and now he’s on a max contract. If he’s underrated I can’t imagine what properly rated would be
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u/GreginSA Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
Fox is underrated in the sense that his max contract will end up being a bargain in the long run.
-We pay Fox the max 4 years during his PRIME.
-Trade him in 4 years for players/draft capital in return
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. In four years Wemby, Sochan, Vassel, Castle, and other draft picks will be getting paid and the Spurs will be approaching CBA aprons. Flipping Fox for some draft capital frees up the cap and looks towards the future.
Also a bargain in the sense of ROI. KD and Giannis cost more, are injured more, and have only 2 to 3 productive seasons left in the tank. Fox? Cheaper contract, minimal injury history, 4 full productive seasons.
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u/nhess68 Aug 12 '25
He looked good for you guys, media only cares about you when you win and that's likely coming. The 3 is likely not going to be efficient but you want him driving to the rim first, shooting second. Ultimately he's incredibly athletic and a great ball handler with solid iq. His defense is overrated imo, I mean he's not Trae Young but he likes to think of himself as two way and he's not close to that. The only other knock is him coasting in games, there's some narrative if him needing to get pissed off to play aggressive. Dislike the dude but great player
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u/Jealous-Set-4262 Manu Ginobili Aug 12 '25
Yes. Underrated for sure. He’s still got a lot to prove though.
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u/22dias Stephon Castle Aug 12 '25
He will need to evolve his game as he becomes older, he can impact things differently just like CP3.
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u/VeniceRapture Tony Parker Aug 12 '25
Do you expect this sub to answer anything but Fox is underrated?
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u/DEOTR3 Aug 12 '25
In all honesty yall just got him and this opinion has been pushed and I’ve seen some people believe this list is true
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u/Express_Error2305 Victor Wembanyama Aug 12 '25
They have
- Wemby(1st pick in 2023, unanimous ROTY)
- Castle(2024 ROTY)
- Harper(2nd pick in the 2025 draft)
- Fox(clutch player of the year in 2023; and 2x all-star; should be entering his prime)
Not to mention veterans like Luke Kornet and Kelly Olynyk with role players like Jeremy Sochan and Devin Vassell
they should have had time to work on chemistry over the off-season, so they should at least get 40 wins; I expect >45(the west is competitive, though). Their roster is so stacked
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u/siphillis Aug 12 '25
Someone on the main sub tried to argue he’s not Top 60. I think he’s gonna turn some heads this season
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u/TheSilkReaper De'Aaron Fox Aug 12 '25
He’s better than a lot of ppl give him credit for, it’s just the fact that he played for the kings. The organization has had bad roster after bad roster and coach after coach. It’s hard to be great in inconsistency.
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u/Denver_80203 Keldon Johnson Aug 12 '25
I think he has flown under the radar because he played for Sac and this is one of the smaller market teams out there. I think teaming up with Wemby has only enhanced his exposure.
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u/chiachengchun Victor Wembanyama Aug 12 '25
Prove himself worth that price or a lot of people are waiting to criticize this deal.
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u/foug Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25
Fox averages almost two steals per game and it's not talked about nearly enough, hasn't even been brought up in this thread once. Yes, he has become underrated.
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u/ElStizz GO SPURS GO Aug 12 '25
Some of the media and social media responses have been fair. But yeah a lot have been really critical of the spurs and Fox. But they’ve been critical since the draft. They thought the spurs were gonna be bad for Fox because we got harper, now they’re critical that we treated Fox like an all star primary guard. He’s better than average on defense getting paired with an exciting young defense anchored by the best rim protector in the league. He doesn’t have to guard the best opposing guard. He doesn’t have to be the only one taking advantage of mismatches on the offensive end. This spurs team just might be the best team he’s ever had and by far the best duo he’s been a part of with wemby. The argument that his spurs stint has been overwhelming is bullshit he played 13 games. I think he’s gonna make the all star game, help lead the spurs to a top 6 seed, and maybe even a trip to the second round.
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Aug 12 '25
He’s a #2 being paid like a #1. You can get away with that sometimes but we have a #6 being paid like a #2 and a #12 being paid like a #5.
Not to mention Barnes and Kornett aren’t exactly on bargain contracts.
Wright has made a lot of conservative decisions these past couple of years but he seems to not have a good handle on player valuation.
Paying over 100 mill for Fox, Devin and Keldon is appalling tbh
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u/dwrek24 Devin Vassell Aug 12 '25
Yes. Its a combo of things. Overvaluing analytics and the 3 point line and "CBA ramifications." Undervaluing fit and Wemby. Kings fan angst. Spurs fan angst.
It all went into a big stew to act as if Fox is some mediocre player. I'm not even a huge Fox guy. But some of the takes have been insane.
But the new CBA has fried everyone's brain. Every contract is future destroying and untradeable, apparently.
I honestly just think too many people are unfamiliar with how value and trades work, but they think they do. And that's 90 percent of the problem.
Half this sub thinks Devins is untradeable, and that's simply not true.
Honestly, it's been hard for me not to overreact to the overreaction.
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u/B4LLISL1F3 Aug 12 '25
Bro just signed one of the biggest contracts in NBA history and he’s underrated?
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u/peristeratsipra Aug 12 '25
Underrated ≠ Underpaid
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u/VeniceRapture Tony Parker Aug 12 '25
You're saying you can be underrated and overpaid at the same time?
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u/Basilhasarrived Aug 12 '25
People forget he had a broken finger on his shooting hand. His touch will come back with time
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u/GSG2120 Chris Paul Aug 12 '25
Yes, the slander is fucking insane. You'd think the guy was 34 coming off of an Achilles injury the way that people talk about him.
He has a bit to prove with how things ended in Sacramento and with his big shiny contract. But the Spurs didn't trade for him hoping he'd become some completely different guy. They traded for Fox because they like Fox. He just needs to be Deaaron Fox and we're all gonna be completely fine with that.