The San Antonio Spurs made the right move in getting De’Aaron Fox before the trade deadline to ignite what could be a lethal combo between Victor Wembanyama and a veteran guard in Fox, especially with Fox publicly asking to be traded to San Antonio.
Fox has been a great acquisition and looked the part since arriving in San Antonio by way of Sacramento. But their desperation might have cost them a better guard who would pair even better with Wemby.
LaMelo Ball has flown under the radar thanks to playing on one of the worst teams and franchises in the NBA. But as quietly as he’s been talked about, his numbers this year have been All-Star level good.
This season, Ball is averaging a career-high 26.2 points per game. Though he’s missed quite a bit of time, a theme of his career, he’s still been a solid guard. And he reportedly could force his way out of Charlotte as the team looks nowhere close to being competitive.
The San Antonio Spurs could be kicking themselves for not pursuing LaMelo Ball
The Spurs might have jumped the gun on locking down their long-term guard. As good as Fox has been the last couple of years, Ball lined up with Wemby would have terrorized teams for years.
Ball is in NBA hell in Charlotte and truthfully, I’m surprised he didn’t try to force his way out before the trade deadline. It’s hard to get a read on Ball because he has so many injury-filled seasons. The most healthy season he had was the 2021-22 season and he still missed seven games.
LaMelo Ball wants to be in a winning situation, per @MikeAScotto
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 6, 2025
“I touched on this with some of the other guys, and some executives around the league are looking at it too. If you were willing to part with Mark Williams—who’s 23 and pretty good, though he has some injury… pic.twitter.com/Prqh37Uctf
Since then, he hasn’t played in more than 40 games. If he doesn’t miss a game the rest of the season, he could hit 60 even. Ball’s health is the biggest issue right now, which makes sense why the Spurs may not have been aggressive in trading for him.
Fox has had a fairly healthy career and he’s been playing well so adding him into the mix wasn’t a bad thing. Just maybe, though, they could regret not going after Ball if he doesn’t land on a contender or team in the mix of taking that next step and takes his game to the next level.