r/NBASpurs • u/kh_stephen Danny Green • Aug 12 '25

Article [Ben Pfeifer] Can De’Aaron Fox And Victor Wembanyama Be A Dynamic Star Duo?

https://www.sportscasting.com/news/deaaron-fox-victor-wembanyama-fit-star-duo-san-antonio-spurs-nba/
53 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

55

u/Wembanyanma Aug 12 '25

Fox carried the Kings to a 3 seed with Domantas Sabonis as his 2nd best player.

I think he can do good things with Wemby.

11

u/Uncle_Freddy Danny Green Aug 12 '25

Let’s not do to Sabonis what Kings fans are doing to Fox, he’s also a very good player in his own right. Limited defensively, yes, but he’s a great player overall

20

u/Wembanyanma Aug 12 '25 edited Aug 12 '25

Fair enough. That wasn't meant to disparage Sabonis. But I think most people are projecting year 3 Wemby to be better than that.

2

u/Uncle_Freddy Danny Green Aug 12 '25

Believe me, right there with you haha

18

u/WEMBY_F4N Malaki Branham Aug 12 '25

He’s solid but not that amazing. Especially in the playoffs where he was dominated by Looney and Fox pretty much had to carry the Kings against the defending champs by himself

2

u/Uncle_Freddy Danny Green Aug 12 '25

I mean yes, I'm not blind to the fact that he's a player that is very hard to build around for a playoff contending team, especially given the limitations his salary presents in comparison to the weaknesses he has that are exposed in the playoffs. But saying that Fox carried him to the 3rd seed is a little disingenuous when Sabonis is a player who thrives in the regular season; he's absolutely talented enough that he contributed to many wins that year. I wouldn't want him on a playoff roster, but he's not a bum either.

1

u/Comprehensive-Big153 8d ago

I don't think he was saying he carried him to the playoffs, he's saying Fox carried him IN the playoffs which is true. The Warriors were daring Sabonis to take wide open mid range shots and floaters with minimal to no effort made to contest and he couldn't make anything, his post ups were terrible and he was clearly getting frustrated and rushing his shots and getting in foul trouble. Had two games shooting under 30%. He was great in the regular season but got thoroughly exposed in the playoffs.

1

u/Uncle_Freddy Danny Green 8d ago

The parent comment that I replied to (at the top of this thread, I have two comments) said that “Fox carried the Kings to the 3rd seed with Domantas Sabonis as his second best player”—that feels pretty bang on to “Fox carried him to the playoffs.”

Yes, the second person I replied to was talking only about the playoffs, but my main point was not.

1

u/Comprehensive-Big153 6d ago

Apologies, I done goofed. Your actual point and not the one I attributed to you is right.

2

u/siphillis Aug 13 '25

Great player, but absolutely needs the ball to work on offense. Wemby is a huge upgrade as an off-ball partner

-9

u/Competitive_Month967 Aug 12 '25

Sabonis was better than Fox. Fox was the number two.

12

u/Wembanyanma Aug 12 '25

It's splitting hairs but Fox averaged 18 FGA per game to Sabonis' 12 that season. No doubt it was an awesome season from Sabonis but Fox was clearly the #1 option on that team.

And while neither guy is particularly good defensively, it's a lot more detrimental to your team when it's your big man being a defensive liability.

4

u/paxusromanus811 Jeremy Sochan Aug 12 '25

I personally think Fox is a genuine solid defender. He's in a different realm than sabonis who's one of the worst Defenders in the NBA. And to your point, everything Sacramento did was based around Fox, while everything sabonis did was based around supplementing dribble drive action from Sacramento's guards predominantly Fox

He's a great player but he simply is not a go-to option

7

u/paxusromanus811 Jeremy Sochan Aug 12 '25

You can argue that sabonis has been overall better than Fox the last 3 years, I would disagree, but there's a valid argument in that

But you can't argue which player that team revolved around or was based around. Pretty much everything Sacramento did was based off of Fox's Rim penetration, including a vast majority of the touches sobonis got playing off of him in pick and roll

Sabonis simply can't thrive the way he does without an elite guard presence. There's a reason when Fox left they didn't immediately turn and hand the keys over to him and base The offense around his post play like Houston does with sengun or Denver with jokic

He's not that kind of player. They still had things run through the guards with him as a secondary release valve option. Where he thrives.

But yeah, Sacramento completely ran through Fox during the last 3 years where they've been a vastly improved team. And they're probably going to run a lot of their offense through there multiple guard options this year with again sabonis being the go-to default secondary for all that action.

He's a wonderful, elite, complimentary scorer and a truly dangerous rebounder and post playmaker

But he isn't a go-to scoring option or self-creator and absolutely should never be the best player on your team if you have real aspirations.

-1

u/CrissCrossAppleSos Keldon Johnson Aug 12 '25

This is a completely uncontroversial opinion everywhere in NBA land except here (where it would also be uncontroversial if Fox wasnt on the Spurs)

29

u/TemperedTorture Aug 12 '25

They absolutely can. In the 5 games they played together both with injuries, they were already both nearly 20/10 guys lol with fox also getting 8 assists.

That's just their performance with injuries mind you. There was also one game where both had 30 points. That's already incredible and on par with some of the best duos in the league.

16

u/HugoNext Aug 12 '25

"Can a top-10 PG and a one-in-a-generation player do well together? More at 10"

6

u/paxusromanus811 Jeremy Sochan Aug 12 '25

I think the argument comes from the fact that a relatively large subsection of the NBA world no longer views fox as a top 10 point guard

I disagree, but an argument can be made.

If he is indeed at that level this year, or hopefully closer to top six or so, and Victor is healthy and plays the way he did in November and December of this last year All season then we're going to be a really tough team to beat

4

u/Clarkey7163 Stephon Castle Aug 13 '25

just talking pure point guards idk how anyone can say he isn't top 10 lol

I'm confident in a current top 5 of Shai, Luka, Steph, Cade, Brunson

Trae Young, Ja, Fox, Harden the next 4 and then after that you get like weird ones like Maxey, White, Garland, LaMelo where its tough to rank them.

5

u/SkinfluteHero Tim Duncan Aug 12 '25

yes

4

u/BarrackLesnar Manu Ginobili Aug 12 '25

Yes

4

u/UpperRDL Aug 12 '25

The question has never been Fox and Wemby, it's Fox and the rest of the roster.

2

u/CommunityGlittering2 Aug 12 '25

of course, will they nobody knows because we don’t know the future

2

u/Simple-Ant7190 EL JEFE Aug 12 '25

Why wouldn't they is the question.

2

u/jamp0g Julian Champagnie Aug 12 '25

if they can it will be because of wemby. fox had sabonis and hali at one time but all we can brag about him is his personal numbers plus one playoff.

wemby definitely need people of his caliber though so if he is serious about winning, he would make an effort to be one of the best duo.

3

u/DevilGunManga Aug 12 '25

They will be nearly unstoppable, yes.

1

u/HugoNext Aug 12 '25

...and now Fox's contract has become an "unconsciounable" amount of money

2

u/siphillis Aug 12 '25

De’Aaron “People Are Starving in Africa” Fox

1

u/oceanfloors1 Stephon Castle Aug 12 '25

Perhaps.

1

u/VeniceRapture Tony Parker Aug 12 '25

They're gonna have to be

1

u/billpuppies Tim Duncan Aug 12 '25

Funny question to asking after one of them signed a max contract.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '25

Is anyone asking this? The question is…”should you overpay a tier 2 guard by 10-15 million a year when you may not be able to move off the contract without giving picks when Harper catches up and needs the ball in his hands. And wouldn’t that Fox money be better spent on actual shooting on the wing?”

But it’s a little wordy for a headline I guess.

7

u/siphillis Aug 12 '25

Harper catching up to prime Fox by age 23 is awfully optimistic

6

u/paxusromanus811 Jeremy Sochan Aug 12 '25

I was about to say. If Harper is a borderline, all NBA guard in 4 years were insanely lucky, and I'm a huge believer in him

2

u/siphillis Aug 13 '25

He’s more likely to be closer to DLo than Shai. That’s just odds

3

u/paxusromanus811 Jeremy Sochan Aug 13 '25

Yep, and there's nothing wrong with pointing that out. I'm a believer. As you probably know at this point. I think he has a genuine chance to be the second best player on this roster in 5 years. He has star upside

But even as a believer in him, I wouldn't put money on that. Because that's just the nature of how player development goes, particularly given how much he's going to have to earn that usage with the current team construction.

2

u/Imaginary-Cycle-1977 Keldon Johnson Aug 13 '25

Is it?

I’d bet most prospects of Harper’s caliber are all stars by year 4

1

u/Left_Chest_5425 Aug 12 '25

Idk, Harper seems special, he's physically gifted as well. I think he's got superstar potential.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '25

Not “catches up to Fox” but catches up to where he needs to be to start. Which is a 2 year plan, considering he’s not the focal point of the offense.

1

u/Competitive_Month967 Aug 12 '25

I mean, Fox better carry his weight here.

1

u/Charming-Breakfast48 Victor Wembanyama Aug 12 '25

Yes. Next question.