New report casts major doubt on De’Aaron Fox’s future with San Antonio Spurs originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

A new report from Sam Amick of The Athletic has cast some serious doubt on star guard De’Aaron Fox‘s future with the San Antonio Spurs.

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Fox still has three years remaining on the enormous, four-year deal he signed with the Spurs last summer, but across the league there are questions regarding his long-term fit with the franchise given the emergence of rookie guard Dylan Harper and the continued development of third-year guard Stephon Castle.

Those two appear to be the backcourt of the future for San Antonio, which might make the Spurs want to move off of Fox’s contract, as opposed to keep him around as an extremely expensive backup.

From Amick:

Here [Fox] is in his first postseason with the Spurs, having forced his way to San Antonio last season as part of his Sacramento Kings exit plan, and there’s already league-wide chatter about how his time here might be cut short.

The assertion, shared by rival executives and media folks alike, is that rookie guard Dylan Harper (the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft) is simply too good to come off the bench for long and will eventually need to start alongside second-year guard Stephon Castle (the No. 4 pick in 2024). And because of the cost considerations — Fox signed a four-year, $229 million deal in August — that sort of development would force tough conversations about whether Fox could remain part of the future if he was coming off the bench.

Technically, having an abundance of talented guards is a good problem to have, but Fox’s contract could prove restrictive when it comes to building a team around Caste, Harper and star center Victor Wembanyama, so it’s not shocking that there’s some speculation about his future.

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While Fox’s future with the Spurs could become a hot topic over the offseason, for now he and the Spurs are solely focused on the task at hand, which is trying to win the first San Antonio’s first NBA title since 2014. Fox likes their chances.

“We feel like we have the best team in the league,” Fox said. “So we have to go out there and play the way that we’re supposed to play. We have confidence in ourselves.”

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