In the deep, dark recesses of the internet, there's a group of San Antonio Spurs fans who believe the team should trade De'Aaron Fox. If you find yourself reading takes like that, you've traveled too far. It's time to turn off the computer and take a walk outside before you get sucked into a very scary rabbit hole.
The opinion that Fox can't lead a team to a deep playoff run was more widespread than just among Spurs fans, though, as plenty of folks around the basketball world questioned whether the 28 year-old could be the No. 1 or No. 2 option on a team with real NBA Finals dreams.
It's not his fault that he spent nearly a decade in Basketball Hell (also known as Sacramento) and only had competent teams around him in two of those seasons! In those two seasons, for the record, he led the Kings to 48 wins and 46 wins.
And these Spurs haven't proven they can do it in the postseason yet — but I think it's already fair to say that Fox has dispelled the myth that he can't be a focal point of a team with a realistic chance to make noise in the playoffs.
The Spurs are 31-14 after beating the Jazz on Thursday, a game in which Fox scored 31 points on dazzling efficiency, while Stephon Castle dished 8 assists and [Victor Wembanyama](https://airalamo.com/san-antonio-spurs-news/victor-wembanyama/) produced another monster double-double.
De'Aaron Fox is leading an elite team with NBA Finals aspirations
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He's not doing it by himself, of course. Wembanyama is the team's megastar, and this era of Spurs basketball will go as far as Wemby takes them. Castle, meanwhile, leads the team in assists, and his emergence as a legit star has been vital in getting the Spurs where they are right now (which is No. 2 in the West behind the defending champions).
But Fox is the steadying force for this offense, providing both the scoring and playmaking that have made him such a productive player his whole career. His scoring output (20.5 points per game) is down a bit from his best days in Sacramento, but that's because he's not forced to be a volume scorer with other stars and emerging stars around him.
De'Aaron Fox is not redundant on the Spurs, and he's not expendable. He's a winning player who can take over a game if need be, like we saw last night. The idea that Fox can't win has already been proven false, as the Spurs continue to, you know, win.