Ranking Top 5 Realistic De'Aaron Fox Trade Landing Spots: Spurs, Lakers, Heat, More

De'Aaron Fox's addition to the rumor mill could make this NBA trade season a lot more exciting.

The 27-year-old point guard is averaging 25.2 points and 6.2 assists, and the Sacramento Kings could be moving him before the February 6 deadline.

ESPN's Shams Charania broke the news:

Now, the speculation starts (especially since Charania dropped that little nugget about a "target destination").

We have the best possible destinations for Fox listed below.

The Brooklyn Nets are included here, almost as a token, because they emerged quickly after Shams' report, and they have a bundle of assets to go get Fox.

"The Nets, per sources, are among the teams that view De'Aaron Fox as a trade target and have been monitoring the Fox situation in [Sacramento]," SNY's Ian Begley wrote. "... Nets, obviously, have significant trade assets to use to acquire a player of Fox's caliber."

The thing is, he just doesn't make a ton of sense for Brooklyn right now.

Yes, the Nets could pivot out of this rebuild and toward competing with a move like this. A core with Fox, Cameron Johnson and Nicolas Claxton, especially in the East, would at least be a tough out.

But it also wouldn't make Brooklyn a title contender, and it's already pretty far down the tracks toward a top pick in 2025.

Giving up a shot at Cooper Flagg (or Dylan Harper or Ace Bailey) probably isn't worth a handful more wins between now and June. Heck, the Nets could probably justify being bad again next year. AJ Dybantsa may be as big a get as anyone in the 2025 class.

Jimmy Butler's situation has been boiling over for weeks. And while he might not be the ideal replacement for Fox in Sacramento, he's not a bad one, either.

Butler, 35, isn't quite as explosive as he once was, but his playmaking could help him play some nominal point guard for the Kings (especially since Sacramento has plenty of passing from DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis).

The fit is actually easier to explain on the other side.

Fox is eight years younger than Butler. Miami already has three potential building blocks who fit together in Bam Adebayo, Kel'el Ware and Tyler Herro. The Kings guard would be a natural addition to that group, even with his sometimes unreliable three-point shooting.

And, unlike Brooklyn, Miami isn't in the middle of a full-fledged rebuild. Even if the Heat get a forward-looking trade package to settle the Butler issue, they can remain competitive with Herro and Adebayo.

Fox keeps Miami among those Eastern Conference teams with a "puncher's chance" to make a deep playoff run.

The Los Angeles Lakers have been hesitant to include Austin Reaves in deals that might land them a third star (or near-star), but if someone like Fox is available, that hesitance should dissipate (even if the Lakers aren't among his preferred destinations).

Fox is only a year older than Reaves. Even in the West, he's a perennial All-Star contender. And with Fox in place of Reaves, it would be easier to buy L.A. as a bona fide contender in the post-LeBron landscape.

L.A. could combine the contracts for Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent (or Jarred Vanderbilt), attach a couple picks to the trade package and make a very competitive offer for the Kings star.

And although the Oklahoma City Thunder are running away with the West's top seed, they're far from invincible. LeBron, AD, Fox and a solid supporting cast would have a chance to upset anyone.

The Orlando Magic have one of the most intriguing one-two punches in the league at the forward spots with Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. Both are plus playmakers at their positions, too.

That may have fooled some of us into thinking they don't need a point guard, though. Maybe, somewhere down the line, they wouldn't. But right now, the Magic have the second-worst offense in the NBA.

And while that can partially be chalked up to injuries, there have also been plenty of possessions in which Banchero and Wagner are both on the floor and the team still gets bogged down on that end.

Imagine how much easier those young stars' lives would be if they were attacking closeouts and defenses scrambled by Fox's drives to the paint. On the other end, think about how much more Fox could gamble for steals while backed up by Orlando's long, seemingly always-attached defenders.

The Magic have plenty of salary-matching fodder, young talent and picks to entice Sacramento. And Fox could take them from a plucky upstart to a real threat to beat any Eastern Conference team in a playoff series.

The obvious fit staring all of us in the face has to be the San Antonio Spurs.

The idea of a Fox-Victor Wembanyama one-two punch is more than tantalizing. The big man's shooting range would open up driving lanes for Fox. The slashing of the guard would create precious extra space for Wemby on his perimeter catches.

The symbiosis is easy to see. So much so that Fox himself may already be envisioning it.

"According to multiple sources, if De'Aaron Fox leaves the Kings via trade, his preferred landing spot is the San Antonio Spurs," ESPN 1320's James Ham wrote. "It could be an interesting couple of days in Sacramento."

Interesting, indeed, especially since San Antonio has the assets to pretty much bury the trade packages of everyone else listed above.

Players such as Keldon Johnson, Devin Vassell and Zach Collins make it easy to get to Fox's salary. And the Spurs can pony up several first-round picks and/or pick swaps.

Even if the team's depth isn't quite there in the immediate aftermath of a Fox deal, it would have a foundation that could start competing for titles as early as next season.