Trade Keldon, Collins, the Bulls pick and the Charlotte pick for him .

ZION 360. 🔥🔥🔥

pic.twitter.com/mxuiBPuF53

— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) January 8, 2025

This seems like way too much for one player, just my opinion and especially having to give up Sochan

More speculation, this time from @BleacherReport’s Zach Buckley:
“The trade: De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs for Keldon Johnson, Jeremy Sochan, Tre Jones, a 2025 first-round pick (via CHI, top-10 protected), a 2027 first-round pick, a 2026 first-round pick swap (via ATL)… pic.twitter.com/y3kBq9KBQA

— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) January 7, 2025

The Kings are out of their mind if they think Fox is worth anywhere near that

All I do is Nguyen said:

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This seems like way too much for one player, just my opinion and especially having to give up Sochan

More speculation, this time from @BleacherReport’s Zach Buckley:
“The trade: De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs for Keldon Johnson, Jeremy Sochan, Tre Jones, a 2025 first-round pick (via CHI, top-10 protected), a 2027 first-round pick, a 2026 first-round pick swap (via ATL)… pic.twitter.com/y3kBq9KBQA

— SpursRΞPORTΞR (@SpursReporter) January 7, 2025

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There's no chance. Our 26 pick is tied into an Atlanta swap so we aren't swapping it. They would include the Chicago pick instead

This was written by someone that doesn't really understand our draft capital

Plus the math doesn't come close to matching.

Avoid Dusty Garza/SpursReport in general. He's a leech

Yeah that's just clickbait if anything. However, I would do that deal tomorrow if it was legitimate.

What a turd. There's no chance we trade a 2025 pick. This draft is loaded.

In that scenario (which has no credibility), that would be the 2025 bulls pick which is top 10 protected. The Spurs would still retain their own 2025 pick and the 2025 Hawks pick. The Spurs are going to have to move one of these at some point. They aren't taking three guys in the first round next year.

Sher Thing said:

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In that scenario (which has no credibility), that would be the 2025 bulls pick which is top 10 protected. The Spurs would still retain their own 2025 pick and the 2025 Hawks pick. The Spurs are going to have to move one of these at some point. They aren't taking three guys in the first round next year.

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Unless they think the Fox/Wemby combo is enough, they will sit on those picks until the draft order is decided and the player pool is set. The more these teams think that the "loaded" 2025 is the cure to their problems, the more valuable the picks. I say "loaded" because it's loaded with prospects. NBA draft is a crapshoot.

Well there is a good chance the Bulls pick doesn't even convey this year so I would argue that moving that pick now for a proven commodity is actually preferable. Another reason why that Bleacher Report trade makes no sense.

Sher Thing said:

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Well there is a good chance the Bulls pick doesn't even convey this year so I would argue that moving that pick now for a proven commodity is actually preferable. Another reason why that Bleacher Report trade makes no sense.

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Yea. Despite not knowing how trading a swap works, I wouldn't be opposed to doing this deal if Fox doesn't get the super max. That Chicago pick is not going to convey. They are going to do everything they can to keep that pick. All indications are they will break up their group and rebuild. I think it's a fair deal.

Edit: I will add that I would prefer them to do this in the offseason so we can get the 'best' draft pick possible this year. From what I understand, after the top 7 or so, the talent really falls off. Like worse than last year.

Sher Thing said:

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Well there is a good chance the Bulls pick doesn't even convey this year so I would argue that moving that pick now for a proven commodity is actually preferable. Another reason why that Bleacher Report trade makes no sense.

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I think that's why you will see them sit on the pick. The other side of the trade is someone receiving that pick, and I doubt anyone wants to risk it. Might as well hold on unless there is a toy available that must have.

Enzo The Baker said:

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Sher Thing said:

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Well there is a good chance the Bulls pick doesn't even convey this year so I would argue that moving that pick now for a proven commodity is actually preferable. Another reason why that Bleacher Report trade makes no sense.

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Yea. Despite not knowing how trading a swap works, I wouldn't be opposed to doing this deal if Fox doesn't get the super max. That Chicago pick is not going to convey. They are going to do everything they can to keep that pick. All indications are they will break up their group and rebuild. I think it's a fair deal.

Edit: I will add that I would prefer them to do this in the offseason so we can get the 'best' draft pick possible this year. From what I understand, after the top 7 or so, the talent really falls off. Like worse than last year.

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If Fox gets traded to us, I don't think he can get the SuperMax. That was the thing with Kawhi - if we traded him, Toronto couldn't give him the SuperMax, which is why he lost a significant amount of money and is the only player to turn down the Supermax and demand the trade out, because Uncle Dennis is the dumbest ***** alive.

Otherwise, they have to wait a year after signing the supermax extension to be traded.

In any event, I think the trade looks dumb. They aren't trading Fox for Sochan, two firsts and a swap.

The other thing is that if we trade with Sacramento, they are 100% demanding that 2031 unprotected swap back so they can have their own picks. No deal with them gets done without them getting that back.



I think something like this is more likely if we did a trade like this. They get Devin's declining contract, the Bulls pick, the Spurs 25 and 27 picks, and their swap back. They save money now and clear Heurter's contract. Second round picks sprinkled in.

We still have all the Atlanta Picks and Minnesota picks, plus have at least one draft pick every season.

We give Fox the 4y30% max contract.

Cool article about Wemby's progress in passing, his vision and has a lot of great videos.

https://theringer.com/2025/01/08/nba/victor-wembanyama-assists-san-antonio-spurs

Wembanyama strode into the league with selfless tendencies and a natural appreciation for getting others involved. But the ability to leverage defensive attention and then consistently spin it into a positive outcome for someone else often takes years for a star guard to developlet alone a centerand ultimately separates great offensive players from ones we won't ever forget. Right now Wembanyama is showing why he's on the latter path.

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In NBA history, only three centers (Alvan Adams, Bill Walton, and Brad Daugherty) have assisted more baskets in their first 102 games than Wembanyama. In December, he averaged 7.8 potential assists per gamethe most through any month in his careerand showed off all the ways he can decode defensive matchups and strategies that are designed to test his patience and make him think.

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"He's able to make passes that you really only see certain guys make in the entire NBA. He's able to make pocket passes as a 7-5 player. He's able to make skips across the court. He goes up for jump shots and sees guys in his peripheral," Jones says. "I think the best way to describe it is it's just a gift that was given to him from God."

I'm not a fan of going after Fox. He is part of Sacramento's problem right now. They should be better than they are.

They would be a lot better if Murray and Hueber didn't forget how to shoot.

Look at our guy Carter finally getting some play though:

Devin Carter just jumped clear over Terry Rozier on defense and then assisted a Domantas Sabonis three. pic.twitter.com/HFWXCjCcgi

— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) January 7, 2025

If Carter makes All-NBA, he can get a 5y345M contract extension with Sacramento. If he doesn't I think he is limited to 4y 230M. He's not letting himself get traded until he knows which contract he will qualify for. Rich Paul is his agent.

Mitch needs to start getting techs about Castle not getting calls.

Mamu minutes early tonight.

Spurs forgot how to score in the second. And how to play defense.

A Fox trade is looking really good rn.

Plus a Cam Johnson.

Down 23. Time to empty the bench.

This team just doesn't fit well together. No cohesion on either end. This rebuild is going to take a long time, as good as Wemby is. Unless the Spurs choose to expedite it. The organic thing just isn't going to work. The Sochan-Vassell-Wemby trio is not here to stay.

Maybe Milwaukee would do a trade centered around Devin and AJ Green.

When Vassell, Johnson, Castle and Champagnie all get more shots than Wemby, we aren't doing something right.

Also, as much as I want to see Castle play, I understand limiting his minutes when he can't throw it in the ocean.

Spurs are set to play the next two games in LA but not til Saturday. I assume they hold off on traveling there until they see what's going on with these fires.

Can we please stop making conclusive statements about these players after a couple of bad games?

Last year at this time Giannis and Dame looked like a terrible duo.

The Spurs run an inverted p&r with the side cleared out and Victor Wembanyama draws two to the ball before finding a slipping Stephon Castle. Check out this absolutely ludicrous jump pass Castle makes to find Harrison Barnes for 3.pic.twitter.com/q3dxt666Fw

— Hot Hand Theory (@HotHandTheory) January 9, 2025

Man, once he can shoot at just like 45/35 level he's going to be ridiculous

It's weird. Castle obviously is a bad shooter right now. But I don't question that he will turn into a respectable shooter because I know that he has the right work ethic and composure to not let the process bother him. He also brings so many winning intangibles that none of the young guys outside of Victor on this team really do.

Kings have won 5 straight since they fired Brown, I don't think they blow it up yet.

AggieEP said:

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Kings have won 5 straight since they fired Brown, I don't think they blow it up yet.

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Yea I don't either. Unless Fox just asks out. BUT, those wins have been against bad or depleted teams. And o believe Fox was out for a few of those games as well.

The real issue is that the new CBA rules intentionally make it hard as crap to move big contracts. So any big star that we could get, the actual facilitation of a trade is made infinitely harder by the new rules.

The other issue is that we can't just be perennially young all around Wemby. At some point we need to put some good established players out there with him. Sochan, Vassell and Castle all look like fine players, but it's increasingly hard to see them as ideal running mates for a championship team. You can win a championship with guys like these as your depth and supporting pieces, but no one is game planning around Vassell right now, and teams are already playing the game where they force Castle to shoot.

We need someone with legit offensive gravity that can pull attention away from Wemby and make the game easier for him. He's already having to take stupid difficult shots just to stay involved. The reason why he only shot 10 times last night is because he really never had a good look all night. Almost all of the 10 were just him shooting over guys while he was guarded. One of the makes was a ridiculous layup around Giannis and another was a one legged running 3.

Fox is a legit scorer, but we need much more than him to change the direction of this team. I'd really rather us take the OKC approach and build the team around versatile defensive minded wings. Find a way to get me Scottie Barnes and Jaren Jackson on this team and we'll see a 5-6 point per night swing in PPG allowed and this team is suddenly in the top half of the Western Conference.

Enzo The Baker said:

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AggieEP said:

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Kings have won 5 straight since they fired Brown, I don't think they blow it up yet.

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Yea I don't either. Unless Fox just asks out. BUT, those wins have been against bad or depleted teams. And o believe Fox was out for a few of those games as well.

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Also, if there was one King I'd want on this team it'd be Sabonis. Give me a smart basketball player that helps everyone around them be better.

AggieEP said:

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The real issue is that the new CBA rules intentionally make it hard as crap to move big contracts. So any big star that we could get, the actual facilitation of a trade is made infinitely harder by the new rules.

The other issue is that we can't just be perennially young all around Wemby. At some point we need to put some good established players out there with him. Sochan, Vassell and Castle all look like fine players, but it's increasingly hard to see them as ideal running mates for a championship team. You can win a championship with guys like these as your depth and supporting pieces, but no one is game planning around Vassell right now, and teams are already playing the game where they force Castle to shoot.

We need someone with legit offensive gravity that can pull attention away from Wemby and make the game easier for him. He's already having to take stupid difficult shots just to stay involved. The reason why he only shot 10 times last night is because he really never had a good look all night. Almost all of the 10 were just him shooting over guys while he was guarded. One of the makes was a ridiculous layup around Giannis and another was a one legged running 3.

Fox is a legit scorer, but we need much more than him to change the direction of this team. I'd really rather us take the OKC approach and build the team around versatile defensive minded wings. Find a way to get me Scottie Barnes and Jaren Jackson on this team and we'll see a 5-6 point per night swing in PPG allowed and this team is suddenly in the top half of the Western Conference.

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All good points but the Spurs are going to have to start making some moves to improve the roster and start turning their trade chips into some valuable players. You can't just sit around forever waiting for the perfect fit. It may never show up. The Kings would never get rid of Sabonis.

Sure, you can continue to build this thing slowly but Wemby is not Tim and frustration is already starting to set in. Do not get the vibe at all that he will be content playing on a borderline playoff team for the next three years. That's one way to see him walk to another franchise. Nobody knows what his realistic championship window will be also (maybe 8 to 10 years?) so the last thing the Spurs should be doing is wasting prime years of his career. Wemby is not ready to carry a team to a championship but he is already the best defender in the league by a longshot. The Spurs need to get some legit players next to him and expedite the roster building starting next season.

Just because they would trade for Fox doesn't mean the roster building would stop there? The Spurs definitely need an all-star caliber player next to Wembanyama though. Vassell is nowhere close to that which is unfortunate. The Spurs would still have a plethora of picks and are going to have to continue to hit on draft picks over the next few years to build depth and role players just like OKC has. Not sure if Fox is the all-star they are looking for but they certainly need that caliber of player.

AggieEP said:

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The real issue is that the new CBA rules intentionally make it hard as crap to move big contracts. So any big star that we could get, the actual facilitation of a trade is made infinitely harder by the new rules.

The other issue is that we can't just be perennially young all around Wemby. At some point we need to put some good established players out there with him. Sochan, Vassell and Castle all look like fine players, but it's increasingly hard to see them as ideal running mates for a championship team. You can win a championship with guys like these as your depth and supporting pieces, but no one is game planning around Vassell right now, and teams are already playing the game where they force Castle to shoot.

We need someone with legit offensive gravity that can pull attention away from Wemby and make the game easier for him. He's already having to take stupid difficult shots just to stay involved. The reason why he only shot 10 times last night is because he really never had a good look all night. Almost all of the 10 were just him shooting over guys while he was guarded. One of the makes was a ridiculous layup around Giannis and another was a one legged running 3.

Fox is a legit scorer, but we need much more than him to change the direction of this team. I'd really rather us take the OKC approach and build the team around versatile defensive minded wings. Find a way to get me Scottie Barnes and Jaren Jackson on this team and we'll see a 5-6 point per night swing in PPG allowed and this team is suddenly in the top half of the Western Conference.

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For the next 2-3 years we have absolutely no problem adding any max player. Those rules are restrictive, but we aren't close to being limited by them.

Barnes and JJ would be great, but we don't have enough assets to get both and it might be pushing it to get one.

We do need a #2 scorer with gravity and no one on our team projects as that scorer. Can't just go get anyone you want.

Would anyone here be interested in trying to grab Jimmy now that he's lowered his value to a distressed asset level? Best case is you get a proven playoff performer and hopefully are able to strike a decent extension with him. Worst case you don't extend him and he is off the books after next year, leaving us with oodles of cap space still.