The San Antonio Spurs have not yet proved they can put a winning team around Victor Wembanyama. All of the weight of expectation is just that -- expectation of future wins. Yet with Wembanyama's talent, the young core being built around him and plenty of extra draft picks in the pipeline, there is plenty of evidence to support those expectations. That should be music to De'Aaron Fox's ears.
In a candid but savvy interview with Draymond Green at the start of 2025, [Fox expressed a desire](https://www.reddit.com/r/kings/comments/1hgksso/deaaron_fox_i_would_love_to_be_here_and_retire/) to stay with the Sacramento Kings for the entirety of his career. There was a catch, however: he wanted to win. And that was something the Kings have historically been unable to offer.
There was one magical season in Sacramento, when Mike Brown coached the roster up and Fox led the Kings to the playoffs for the first time in twenty years. Yet even that year they couldn't get out of the first round, losing to a team with a track record of postseason success -- indeed, the same Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors.
Poorly run franchises can put together one good season, and then they fall back to earth. That is exactly what happened in Sacramento. Domatas Sabonis is a good player, but he isn't a metronome for consistent success, and the Kings churned the roster around them -- including the head coach -- searching for answers as the team fell back into the pack.
If Fox truly desires to win -- and he made it clear that he does -- it was never going to happen in Sacramento. Perhaps over the course of his career he would see another good season propel him back to the playoffs, but if he wants the chance to be competing for anything meaningful, the idea that it would happen paired with Sabonis and the Kings organization is laughable.
De'Aaron Fox can win in San Antonio
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That's why Fox demanded a trade out of Sacramento, and why he picked the Spurs as his destination. If Domantas Sabonis is a ceiling-capping, floor-raising big man, Victor Wembanyama is a big man who takes ceilings and shatters them. His combination of skills, even at just 21 years old, is the type that drives elite postseason success.
Similarly, if the Kings are an organization that cannot get out of its own way, and has demonstrated over not years but decades that they are not a winning franchise, the Spurs are the supreme opposite. While the Kings were wallowing in a sinkhole, San Antonio was firing off 50-win series like they were nothing. 5 championships spread across 15 seasons is the epitome of franchise success.
Again, the Spurs have not yet proven anything with this core. Wembanyama has to stay healthy, Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper need to grow into their potential, and De'Aaron Fox has to step up and be the No. 2 to Wembanyama and drive the offense. There are a lot of unknowns, a lot of projections, going on at The Alamo these days.
Those are projections based on proven success, however, for a franchise and for the type of player that Wembanyama already is. In a flash Fox changed his fortunes, and the Spurs are granting him exactly what he wished for: a winning organization, a winning superstar, and the path for Fox to play games that matter.
Fox couldn't have asked for more if he had closed his eyes and blown out his birthday candles. And perhaps he did.