With the San Antonio Spurs eliminating the Portland Trail Blazers last night, De'Aaron Fox is on his way to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in his career. It's a major milestone, one he may never have achieved had he stayed with the Sacramento Kings instead of asking for a trade.
For Kings fans, watching Fox have a great playoffs with the Spurs is a rather bitter pill to swallow. He was the face of their franchise for seven and a half seasons with the goal of retiring as a King. Instead, constant mismanagement of the team drove Fox away, ending with him in San Antonio.
During his time in Sacramento, the Kings only made the playoffs once and were knocked out in the first round by the Warriors. This time, he and the Spurs made rather short work of the Blazers, winning the series four games to one. And that one loss was the game in which Wembanyama was injured.
Fox is a big part of the reason the Spurs won this series. In more than one game, he stepped up when San Antonio was on the ropes and carried them through the tough moments. He's become one of their top playmakers and the seasoned on-court general this young team needed.
Fox finds the next stage of his career in San Antonio
While making the second round of the playoffs with the Kings would have been great, it simply wasn't going to happen. Sacramento trading him was the move that kicked off the rebuild process. If he stayed with the team, the Kings would have just continued to limp along without major changes.
Being the starting point guard on a legitmate contender that is now heading into the second round of the playoffs is a big deal. Even if the Spurs' season ends here, it's the deepest postseason run of his career to date. This is also a team that isn't close to its ceiling and will keep getting better.
The Spurs will face either the Nuggets or the Wolves in the next round. Both Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo are out for Minnesota, which has opened the door for Denver to get back in the series. Frankly, the San Antonio could beat either of these teams.
If that happens, Fox and the Spurs are on their way to the Western Conference Finals, where they will likely face the Thunder. That would be the team San Antonio beat four times this season. If all goes well, Fox could find himself competing for a championship. It's quite a change from Sacramento.
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