So many of these guys must get their opinions from the same haterade newsletter or something. The number of so-called analysts or NBA observers (whatever you want to call them) who continue to parrot the talking point that De’Aaron Fox won’t work next to Dylan Harper is baffling. Bill Simmons is the latest, and he doesn’t say anything of substance that would actually force the Spurs to trade away Fox.

“They probably have a year here with Fox where you can bring Dylan Harper off the bench… He’s just such a crazy athlete, and he’s just clearly going to be ‘a guy’.” – Bill Simmons on the Spurs’ alleged problem.

Simmons goes on to say that he believes Harper is a player who thrives with the ball in his hand, and he doesn’t believe the rookie has it in him to play off-ball with the same effectiveness as a player like Tyrese Haliburton. There are so many things wrong with this opinion, but it continues to be one of the most prevalent talking points when people discuss San Antonio.

Stacking talented players is a good thing

Transaction culture is ruining NBA conversations. Everyone has become so enamored with the idea of trading players and shaking things up that common sense seems to have gone out the window in favor of chaos. I guess, we’ll also just disregard the fact that a quote recently came out from a San Antonio executive expressing a desire to keep Fox in silver and black.

“When we made that trade, we knew what the contract status was, of course. We see De’Aaron as someone who can grow with our young players and be a real leader for us. We’re hopeful we can make something happen to keep him in San Antonio for a long time,” the executive told Keith Smith of Spotrac.

It would have been very easy for this source to say “no comment” or literally anything else, but there were no words minced here. The goal is to keep the former Sacramento King with the Spurs “for a long time.” That’s a good thing. Stacking talent is exactly how OKC just won the championship, and this guy is trying to tell us that SA should trade one of the best PGs in the league.

Fox just won the Clutch Player of the Year award a couple of years ago. He dropped 60 points in a game just last season. The only way you trade him is if he suddenly becomes a cancer to the locker room, or his production falls off a cliff. Those two things aren’t about to happen to a motivated 27-year-old athlete in his prime known for being a team-first guy.

Everyone was mad at the Kings for trading Haliburton, not because they should have traded Fox instead, but because they shouldn’t have moved either one of them.

In the one full year the two played together during Hali’s rookie year, he averaged 13 points, five assists, and shot over 40% from three. Meanwhile, Fox averaged 25 points per game—one of his highest point averages in his career—seven assists, and two steals.

Trading Tyrese away was premature, and that franchise continues to spiral because of their ineptitude. There’s no way the Spurs should do anything similar.