What the De'Aaron Fox deal means for Dylan Harper and Stephon Castle

USA Today

12 hours ago

The move will likely put the Spurs in a bind when Wemby, Castle, and Harper all come due, but the Spurs are deciding to worry about that 3 or 4 years from now. Fox just now entering his prime.
De'Aaron Fox has reportedly signed a four-year, $229 million maximum contract extension with the San Antonio Spurs. So what comes next for this team?
Fox is now under contract with the Spurs until 2029-30 and will collect an average annual value of more than $57 million per season. In a vacuum, the deal makes sense for San Antonio. Several of the players in their young core are still a few years away from requiring a similarly major pay day, so the franchise could afford to retain Fox.
If the Spurs had not given this deal to Fox, they would have risked losing him as an unrestricted free agent next summer. Instead, they have shown they are committed to their next chapter of winning around Victor Wembanyama rather than rebuilding.
But there is still a major question about whether Fox or someone else is the point guard of the future in San Antonio.
They selected Dylan Harper with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and also have 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year winner Stephon Castle on their roster. If they continue on the right development path, they project as the likely backcourt of the future for the Spurs.
Fox, however, is far more of a "win-now" caliber player than either of his younger teammates. They now have the next three seasons to decide the right combination of guards to complement Wembanyama, the obvious face of the franchise.
From a salary perspective, they won't have much to worry about until then with no other major contracts interfering on the books.
From a basketball perspective, though, it gets more interesting. For what it is worth, per PBPStats: The Spurs outscored opponents by 3.07 points per 100 possessions in the 740 minutes when Wembanyama played with Castle but not Fox last season.
There was a less significant sample size to evaluate when Wembanyama played with Fox but not Castle in 2024-25. But notably, the Spurs were outscored by 12.99 points per 100 in the 237 minutes in which Fox and Castle shared the court.
We don't know how the group will fare with Harper in the mix as well, but they will have plenty of time to experiment with that this season. Fortunately for the Spurs, neither Castle nor Harper is undersized, so it is entirely possible that it could work out that all three could play together.
A promise was likely made last February and Spurs stuck with it despite Harper.Now we move on and hope for the best 3-4 years from nowFox is a great talent to have on board.
Perhaps by the end of Fox's extension, it is incredibly obvious that the right mix for San Antonio involves involves Harper and Castle as their starting one and two. By then, maybe they will have to trade Fox and clear up that log jam.
Because his salary is so large, it might feel difficult for the Spurs to move him at that price tag. But it may have value for value-matching purposes if, by then, San Antonio is looking to potentially add a star through the trade market.
At the end of the day, it seems the front office believes that Fox puts the team in the best position to win now. The good news is that because Harper and Castle are still a rookie and sophomore, respectively, they have time until it will become too expensive to keep all three.
Until then, the Spurs are simply building a team with as much talent as possible and letting it develop naturally. It would feel unfair to criticize them for that, especially with a superstar like Wembanyama in the mix.