American Football
The Kings got more first-round picks for De’Aaron Fox than the Mavericks got for Luka Doncic
File this under “funny and technically accurate NBA facts.”
The tectonic shift of the Luka Doncic trade was enough to quiet all transaction whispers elsewhere for almost 24 hours, but on Sunday evening, word began to percolate that Doncic would not be the only NBA star moved over the weekend, and that De’Aaron Fox was on the verge of having his trade request granted.
And then it happened, with Fox heading to his preferred destination of the San Antonio Spurs, Zach LaVine ending up on the Kings, and the Bulls… well, mostly getting off the LaVine contract but also getting their own first-round pick back from Sacramento so they can tank safely this season.
Shams Charania of ESPN and Sam Amick of The Athletic were first on the news:
Full trade:
Spurs: De’Aaron Fox, Jordan McLaughlin
Kings: Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, three first round picks (2025 CHA, 2027 SAS, 2031 MIN), three second round picks (2025 CHI, 2028 DEN, 2028 own back)
Bulls: Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, their own 2025 pick via SAS https://t.co/UgwylCUYAO
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 3, 2025
Kings also get three first rounders in the deal, per source https://t.co/quFOs1ny1k
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 3, 2025
Sending Fox to pair with Victor Wembanyama would have been momentous enough on its own, but the price the Kings were able to extract from him isn’t going to quiet Mavs fans who are upset about the return their own team got for Doncic after (mostly) only even shopping him to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Why? Well, pause, take a second to take stock of what and who are going where in that deal above. Did you count the picks? Because those with a basic understanding of elementary school math may notice something that is sort of amusing: The Kings were technically able to get more first-round picks (three) for De’Aaron Fox than the Mavs got for trading Doncic (one).
Now, there is of course context to that factoid. The Kings are taking on LaVine’s contract (with two years and nearly $100 million left AFTER this season) and moving on from the best player in the trade, to say nothing of the fact that they are not getting back any players anywhere near the caliber of Anthony Davis, whom the Mavs got in the Doncic deal.
The picks also aren’t exactly premium choices, and one of them may not even convey, as Matt George of ABC10 in Sacramento and Locked on Kings broke down:
The three first rounders the Kings got from the Spurs are…not great.
The 2025 Charlotte pick is Top 14 protected. Hornets are 4th worst in the NBA this season.
The 2027 Spurs pick won’t be great unless the Wemby/Fox team completely fails.
The 2031 T-Wolves pick is far away.
— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) February 3, 2025
A few team folks are pointing this out to me: Charlotte’s 2025 first-round pick that Sacramento is landing from San Antonio is top-14 protected — essentially guaranteed won’t convey, and will instead become 2026 and 2027 CHA seconds. Kings *really* got back two firsts.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) February 3, 2025
But still, even if that Charlotte one doesn’t convey, “the Kings got more picks for Fox than the Mavs got for Luka” will always be a funny and technically true statement, as well as maybe a future answer in one of your NBA-themed games of bar trivia.