NBA Trade Rumors: There is a growing sense that De’Aaron Fox could be available ahead of the trade deadline.
As the Sacramento Kings inch closer and closer to the midway point of another season that will almost definitely end in disappointment – currently, the Kings are 12-18 and already three games out of the 8th spot in the Western Conference – it was only a matter of time before the trade whispers would begin.
While the usual trade candidates of Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley have already hit the rumor mill, there’s one other name that the Kings have been reluctant to even discuss the possibility of moving: De’Aaron Fox.
Fox is just 23 years old and has already flashed as a potential perennial all-star during his young career. In fact, heading into this season, Fox was coming off a career season in which he averaged 25 points, seven assists, and four rebounds per game on 48 percent shooting from the field and 32 percent shooting from 3-point range.
However, he’s taken a bit of a production fit this season. And his struggles have been something that can’t be overlooked.
This season, his counting stats look fair – 21 points and five assists on 45 percent shooting from the floor. Though, he’s shooting a putrid 26 percent from 3 this season and his PER (player efficiency rating) has fallen from in the 20s in each of the last two seasons to just 17.55 this season.
In short, he isn’t having nearly as big an impact as he was having previously.
Adding to that, during a conversation on The Hoop Collective podcast, Brian Windhorst mentioned how there’s “a lot of smoke” surrounding Fox trade discussions. If nothing else, this note is interesting.
Windy stopped just short of saying that the Kings were open to moving him but also didn’t entirely shut down the idea of it. That could leave you to believe that there is some real doubt as to whether or not the Kings believe he can be a foundational core building block.
And if this report is indeed somewhat accurate, there should be a litany of teams on the phone right now to try to find the asking price for a potential Fox deal. At 23, he’d immediately become the No. 1 or 2 trade target (depending on how you rank Ben Simmons) and would become the talk of the league.