Welcome to Pounding the Rock’s 2025-26 player reviews! The series will look at the players who finished the season with the San Antonio Spurs on guaranteed contracts and who played consequential minutes and/or a vital role (so no two-way players because we hardly saw them this year, no players who were traded away, and none of the deep bench centers, since they were both irrelevant and are now all gone).
De’Aaron Fox
2025-26 stats: 72 games, 31 MPG, 18.6 points, 6.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 48.6 FG%
Contract Status: 4 years, $221.7 million remaining
Age: 28
What goes into a grade? With 82 games and four playoff series, there is so much time to reflect
on. Summarizing it all with an overarching grade is a unique task. And yet, so far, it’s been largely easy to assign a letter to most of the Spurs. Grading De’Aaron Fox is not so easy.
Fox made one of San Antonio’s most famous mistakes of the season. Getting blocked by OG Anunoby with seconds left in Game Four of the NBA Finals will haunt him and the Spurs for quite some time. After being pretty good in the first two playoff series, an ankle injury held him back from being as effective in the Western Conference Finals and Finals. And yet, Fox was an All-Star this season, and without him, the Spurs don’t reach the highest highs of their season.
Fox did two things extremely well this year: lift the team when Victor Wembanyama sits (a very important job for a team with a superstar with some delicate health issues), and steady the ship when things got tough in the postseason. Fox averaged 24.6 points, 6.2 assists and 4.4 rebounds in the 18 games Wembanyama missed this season. With a mostly inexperienced roster, Fox kept the team afloat while guards like Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper could not yet handle a primary ball-handler role (Castle had a major turnover problem when Fox was not in the lineup).
Still, it’s hard not to feel like Fox left a bit on the table this season. San Antonio’s offense, while effective (4th in offensive rating), never seemed to click. Fox was left playing off the ball due to Castle and Harper’s lack of three-point shooting. That meant less of Fox running the pick-and-roll where he was most effective, and a lot of him spotting catch-and-shoot threes, where he hit only 33.2% of his deep shots.
Despite the disappointing end to the season (which was almost certainly affected by injury), Fox was one of the Spurs’ best players all season long. He was a steady, veteran performer who lifted his teammates and took over when he needed to. It was actually kind of the exact type of season you’re looking for from your starting point guard (minus the Finals blunders).
So a grade here is tough, because there are large, glaring negatives to take away from this season. But I am, admittedly, a basketball optimist. For every Fox mistake late in the season, I can think of 5 moments where he came up with a clutch basket, or settled the team after a wild run. So he gets a passing grade, but is certainly one of the Spurs with the biggest microscope on him entering the 2026-27 season.
Looking ahead
Fox’s max contract extension kicks in this year. With that comes even more scrutiny for the veteran, especially coming off his NBA Finals performance. For the first time since he’s been a Spur, it seems like Fox will be fully healthy coming into the season. His ankle is healed up, and there has been no word of other lower body injuries cropping up. A fully rested and motivated Fox could be a dangerous player coming into the year.
It would be great to see Mitch Johnson lean into the Fox-Wembanyama pick-and-roll that was so deadly last season. Castle and Harper have improved as off-ball shooters, and are good enough cutters to make defenses pay for losing them in the half-court. Overall, it’s on Johnson to find a way to play Fox and the other three guards. It’s an offensive scheme that the team needs to figure out to ascend to another level.
San Antonio’s personnel actually should fit Fox a bit better this season, too. A potential lineup of Fox, Devin Vassell, Julian Champagnie, Tobias Harris and Wembanyama could be an interesting mix of shooting, playmaking and finishing that would allow Fox to play a more central ball-handling and playmaking role. If Carter Bryant becomes a better shooter, he could be an interesting player next to Fox who could space the floor on the wing and run out in transition with the point guard.
I am bullish on a bounce-back year for Fox next season on the court. San Antonio needs that to recoup his value. With Harper nipping at his heels, Fox’s time as the starting point guard seems to be dwindling. It is going to be very hard for the Spurs to field a competitive team when they need to hand out max contracts to Castle and Harper, alongside Wembanyama and Fox’s contracts. Right now, it’s easy to point to Fox as the odd man out of that core.
But what realistically could the Spurs get in a trade for Fox at this point? Are teams clamoring to acquire a 28-year-old point guard coming off of his worst playoff series, and starting a contract many have labeled one of the worst in the league? San Antonio needs Fox to play well, not only to help the team this year, but to make him moveable down the road once they need to clear space to build a competitor around Wembanyama, Harper, and Castle.
That is likely not a problem for this season, or maybe even next offseason. But it is something that will be on Spurs fans’ minds, and maybe even Fox and Harper’s as they compete for playing time moving forward. In an ideal world, that drives Fox to play to the level of his contract. In a world where things go wrong for the Spurs, it kills chemistry and a move needs to be made. Which direction things start to go is going to be one of the biggest storylines for the Spurs next season.
Top Performance
Nov. 26 at Portland Trail Blazers: 37 points, 6 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, 12-12 FTs
Final Grade: B+
Up next: Victor Wembanyama
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