Rich Paul is undoubtedly one of the best and most savvy agents for players in the NBA. But there's also no doubt the San Antonio Spurs have him to thank for their new situation involving De'Aaron Fox. Number four in Silver and Black signed a contract extension worth $229 million over four years with the team last week.
As we know, that deal was negotiated by Fox's agent at Klutch Sports, Rich Paul. One of the best and most well-known in the business, Paul is famous for negotiating fantastic deals for his clients, locking in his guys for big paydays on their respective teams.
On Sunday, NBA insider Jake Fischer reported a bit of a caveat to this situation. In his substack, Fischer explained that Rich Paul had been determined in the past to get one of the All-Star guards he represented on the Spurs' roster alongside Victor Wembanyama (subscription required). At the time, that list of players included Fox, Trae Young and Darius Garland.
Rich Paul was 'determined' to get one of his All-Star guards to SA
Spurs fans are of course no stranger to hearing the name Trae Young attached to their team. There were plenty of rumors for a long time about Young leaving Atlanta to team up with Wemby in San Antonio. The same can be said of Garland. But when those talks never came to fruition, it left Paul to work on getting Fox there instead.
Back in February, their vision came to light when Fox was officially traded to the Spurs. And now, he's secured a positively massive extension with the franchise. That's great news for Paul and Klutch, and you can add it to the lengthy list of high-level deals they've been able to get done for their clients. But from San Antonio's side of things, it does create a bit of a crunch.
While it was necessary to get Fox back in town after trading for him, the Spurs do now have to consider the financial ramifications of what his new deal does to their ability to build a roster going forward. It's not a total handicap, but it could become one if they're not careful.
San Antonio will now likely be faced with parting ways with at least one member of their young core in the coming months. Whether that ends up being Jeremy Sochan, Devin Vassell or someone else remains to be seen, but it should be on everyone's radar now.