It's never a good idea to play the "What If" game, especially in times of tribulation. However, for Sacramento Kings fans, these past 24 hours have made it incredibly hard not to.
Tuesday, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania dropped a bombshell report that GM Monte McNair and company are "expected to open up talks" about possibly dealing All-Star De'Aaron Fox ahead of the February 6 NBA trade deadline.
The news on its own is undoubtedly tough to hear for Kings nation, especially considering the hardships the ball club has already endured what with their slower-than-expected start to the campaign and the in-season firing of head coach Mike Brown.
However, what makes it all the more daunting is the fact that the front office could have put themselves in a far more enviable position had they not made a couple of specific decisions over the years leading into 2024-25.
Kings decision to prioritize De'Aaron Fox may have doomed them
There's no arguing against the notion that De'Aaron Fox has produced like a franchise centerpiece throughout his eight seasons in Sacramento.
With career averages of 21.5 points, 6.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.4 steals on 47.1 percent shooting from the floor and an All-NBA selection attached to his resume, the numbers and accolades clearly strengthen this claim.
However, when looking back it's evident that the Kings' front office let the promise of Fox affect their decision-making.
Just a few years back, Sacramento boasted one of the game's best and most promising young backcourt tandems with Fox and Tyrese Haliburton at the helm.
With his two-way capabilities and high basketball IQ, the former Iowa State standout and 12 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft quickly endeared himself to the Kings' fanbase and looked every bit of a building block moving forward.
However, midway through his second season with the team, McNair opted to package Haliburton, along with Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for a deal headlined by Domantas Sabonis.
The primary reason? To try and better accommodate Fox.
Now, granted, this move has helped lead the Kings to some solid successes, as they snapped their 16-year playoff drought during Sabonis's tenure.
However, it is undoubtedly painful to see Haliburton become a multi-time All-Star and arguably the game's best floor general elsewhere while most recently guiding the Pacers to a Conference Finals berth.
Of course, this isn't the first time Sacramento has made an ill-fated move to try and prioritize De'Aaron Fox.
Way back during the 2018 NBA Draft, the Kings held the rights to the second overall pick, with which they selected big man Marvin Bagley III.
Though, at the time, the Duke product was certainly viewed as an impressive prospect, it's nearly impossible to forget that the next three selections after him were Luka Doncic, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Trae Young, respectively, all of whom have gone on to become All-Stars and cornerstones for their organizations.
Bagley, on the other had, is now playing for his third team in seven years.
Yes, hindsight is 20/20, but it's indisputable that one of the primary reasons why the Kings went for Bagley and not, say, Doncic is because of the fact that they had just taken Fox fifth overall the season before. Former top executive Vlade Divac even admitted this to Sasa Cobanov of Index.hr earlier this year when he said:
"At that position, I already had De’Aaron Fox, whom I had drafted a year earlier. At the time, I believed Fox was a player who could become a franchise star in the coming years. Time will tell if I was wrong. As things stand now, it seems I was, but I still have faith in Fox having a great career."
In the Kings's defense, no one could have guaranteed that things would get to this point. Still, to say their obsession with trying to make things work with De'Aaron Fox over the years didn't lead them to this doom-and-gloom situation would be a farce.