Insider Says De'Aaron Fox's Future with Spurs Not So Cut & Dried

The San Antonio Spurs made a huge move at the trade deadline, bringing in star point guard De'Aaron Fox to form a 'dynamic duo' with Victor Wembanyama.

But the team's backcourt is getting mighty crowded, with the emergence of Stephon Castle, 20, as the NBA's Rookie of the Year, followed by the selection of 19-year-old Dylan Harper with the 2nd overall pick in this year's draft.

As of today, Fox is eligible to sign a max extension of four years and $229 million.

But according to NBA Insider Marc Stein (h/t Julia Stumbaugh of Bleacher Report), there's some buzz around the league of rivals suggesting that an extension of that nature for Fox might not be such a slam dunk. He is due to become a free agent after this coming season. Fellow insider Brett Siegel does think a new deal will get done for Fox, but not at that full max rate.

Also, in other news today, De’Aaron Fox is eligible for a 4yr/229M contract extension.

It’ll probably take a few days to sort through some details here, but it sounds like he will be getting an extension worth slightly less than the max.

At least, that’s the talk around NBA.
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) August 3, 2025

The Spurs have to be careful to keep their books in order, as they will have to allocate a lot of future money to both Castle and Harper, the real future of their backcourt, and of course, Wemby will be getting more than his share when it's time for him to sign a rookie extension with the Spurs next summer. He'll be eligible then for a five-year, $271 million deal that would begin in the 2027-28 season.

Fox will be turning 28 this coming campaign, and while it makes sense to have him around for the time being to help tutor the youngsters, at some point, he just won't fit into the timeline as the Spurs super trio of Wembanyama, 21, Castle 20 and Harper 19.

Fox had a tough go of it after arriving in San Antonio last season, as his points production dipped by about five per game, to 19.7, and then in mid-March, his season came to a premature conclusion, as he had surgery on a torn tendon in his left pinkie finger.