3 best De’Aaron Fox trade destinations after all-time bad NBA Finals

De’Aaron Fox has quickly gone from hero to zero for the San Antonio Spurs after wilting under the bright lights of the NBA Finals. Fox did make clutch shots towards the end of Game 3, the Spurs’ lone win against the New York Knicks, but he ended up doing more harm than good for his team in the clutch — especially towards the end of Game 4 and Game 5, the most backbreaking defeats of the Spurs’ campaign.

The Spurs brought in Fox last year via trade to elevate the team’s quality and to bring in a more surehanded player to lead the way for the team at the point of attack. While Fox did just that for the Spurs in the regular season, helping them to a 62-win campaign off the back of a season in which he averaged 19 and six as the team’s starting point guard, one has to wonder whether or not they’re having buyer’s remorse at the moment.

It would be one thing for the Spurs to have traded for Fox. It’s another entirely for them to immediately sign him to a four-year, $229 million contract extension that is going to start kicking in at the start of next season.

The Spurs could not have foreseen that they would move up the 2025 NBA Draft to select Dylan Harper, and not too many could have seen in advance that Harper would be this good, this quickly. Harper outplayed Fox in the NBA Finals, and he seems rather deserving of a spot in the starting lineup moving forward — leaving Fox in a bit of limbo.

Perhaps the Spurs would be inclined to move Fox after that disastrous NBA Finals in which he averaged just 13 and six on 34 percent shooting from the field; these are the teams that should express interest.

Orlando Magic

The Magic are in a bit of a pickle, salary cap-wise, so it’s not as if it would be the most seamless thing for them to bring someone like Fox in. Fox is going to be making upwards of $60-plus million during the 2029-30 season, and his contract is rising in similar fashion to that of franchise players Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.

But if there’s anything this past year has shown, it’s that the Magic have made their bed as a would-be contending team. There is no going back now, especially after making a splash for Desmond Bane last year. Even with Bane in tow, their offense looked horrific at times, especially in the playoffs, where they scored just 101.9 points per 100 possessions.

The team has stout defensive players all throughout the roster, so tilting the balance of the team more towards the offensive side of the ball could do them a world of good. Fox is a major upgrade over Suggs on that end, and he gives the team a legitimate ballhandler who can help spell Banchero and Wagner of that responsibility.

It helps as well that the Magic recently hired former Spurs assistant coach Sean Sweeney, who has undoubtedly built a connection with Fox during their time together in San Antonio.

A five-man lineup of Fox-Bane-Wagner-Banchero-Wendell Carter Jr. will be extremely expensive to keep together, but that should at least be more balanced, at least in terms of roles.

The problem, of course, is going to be the three-point shooting efficiency. Fox isn’t exactly the most accurate from deep, as Spurs fans would attest to after witnessing him barf up one brick after another in the NBA Finals.

But it’s not like Suggs is much better in that regard, and Fox, at the very least, is much more durable than Suggs has been.

Miami Heat

Maybe there is something in the air in Florida that makes Fox just a good fit in the NBA teams residing in the state. The Heat are always looking for avenues to infuse the roster with talent, as their egalitarian approach is no longer resulting in success, if them missing out on the playoffs this year is any indication.

Fox would give the Heat a legitimate floor general who’s durable, and reuniting him with Kentucky teammate Bam Adebayo could unlock a new level for the both of them. The Heat have always been involved in trade rumors, even for stars who’ve seen their stock fall drastically, and this could be a good buy-low opportunity for them.

Someone like Tyler Herro could headline the return for the Spurs; Herro is familiar with the role of being a sixth man, and he’s a much more accurate sniper from deep than Fox is. This would also allow Harper to move up to the starting lineup where he belongs long-term for the Spurs.

Houston Rockets

Throughout the 2025-26 season, point guard play was a major issue for the Rockets. Fred VanVleet’s torn ACL put the Rockets on the backfoot, and they never truly got into their groove as a unit. They did win 52 games in the regular season, but they got eliminated in the first round of the playoffs to a Los Angeles Lakers team that did not have Luka Doncic on the active roster.

VanVleet’s return should make life so much easier for the Rockets. He has a player option worth $25 million for next season, and he is likely to pick that up after missing the entirety of this past season with an injury.

While modern medicine has made recovery from a torn ACL that much more seamless, the fact of the matter is that he’s a point guard who’s listed at just 6’0″ (who might be smaller than that) coming off a major knee injury. There is a non-zero chance that he never rounds back into form.

The need for a point guard, should VanVleet not return to the caliber of player he once was, could end up pushing the Rockets towards the Spurs’ direction, kicking the tires regarding the potential availability of the two-time All-Star point guard who’s public enemy number one in San Antonio.

At the end of the day, however, Fox is just straight up an iffy fit for the Rockets. He’s not a high-level floor spacer, and he’s making so much money.

It’s just difficult to pinpoint other destinations that make sense for Fox since most teams that are looking to contend already have a point guard leading the way.

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