After a couple of weeks of rumors, the Sacramento Kings pulled the trigger on a trade that will send talented guard De’Aaron Fox out of town after eight years in California’s capital city. And to the delight of the one-time All-Star, he is headed to the team he reportedly preferred to land with, the San Antonio Spurs.
On Sunday night, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania broke the news that the two franchises have agreed on a blockbuster three-team trade with the Chicago Bulls that will see the Kings acquire two-time All-Star Zach LaVine, Sidy Cissoko, three future first-round picks, and a trio of second-rounders.
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Heading to San Antonio will be Fox and Jordan McLaughlin. While Chicago moves on from LaVine’s massive contract and gets Zach Collins, Tre Jones, Kevin Huerter, and the 2025 first-round pick they gave up in the trade for DeMar DeRozan.
With two big pieces now off the trade block, we look at the biggest winners and losers from Saturday’s massive three-team deal.
Winner: Zach LaVine
Last season, injuries limited LaVine to just 25 games. That, mixed with a schism between him, the front office and coaching staff led to reports that his value around the league had hit a shocking low. However, a year later he has returned to his All-Star form and rehabilitated his reputation to such a point that he was scene as a big piece going back in a blockbuster trade.
And not only that, he gets to leave a club that would have struggled to make the playoffs with him to go to one that could make some noise in the postseason this spring.
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Loser: Chicago Bulls
Sunday’s trade could certainly be seen as addition by subtraction for the Chicago Bulls. However, in the deal they gave up an All-Star talent and got back a bunch of role players. While the move is beneficial for the team long-term, their playoff hopes in 2025 are done and they could be headed to being a lottery team in June. It makes the fans as big a loser as the club in this trade.
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Winner: De’Aaron Fox
Rumors over the last week claimed Fox wanted to be traded to the San Antonio Spurs. Fortunately for him the feeling was mutual and San Antonio was able to put together an offer that was good enough for the Kings to forkover the talented guard. While the Spurs are a team outside the playoff picture currently, he and Victor Wembanyama should be just as formidable as Fox was in Sacramento with Domantas Sabonis.
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Loser: Sacramento Kings
The Sacramento Kings are getting a very good player back in the deal. But it does feel like a small step back. LaVine’s is older than Fox, his history with injuries is problematic, and the team is locked into possibly two more seasons at $45.9 and $48.9 million with two-time All-Star. Furthermore, one has to wonder if there are any remaining issues between him and former Bulls teammate DeMar DeRozan after the locker room drama the former created last season.
The Kings caught fire after Mike Brown’s firing, there has to be concerns that moving Fox out and bring LaVine in short-circuit’s their strong play recently.
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Winner: San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs have been a better team this season than they were in 2024-25. But top star Victor Wembanyama is carrying too much of a load at just 21-years-old. However, now Fox can take a ton of pressure off the Frenchman on offense. In the short-term, the trade strengthens their chance to get back to the postseason after a 22 win year. Long-term they could have the makings of an outstanding, young one-two punch in Wembanyama and Fox (if they lock him into a new long-term deal).
Loser: Billy Donovan
Three years ago, it looked like Billy Donovan had turned the Bulls around and got them back to relevancy in just two seasons. They were a club on the rise and a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference. Then injuries to key players and drama with Zach LaVine led to a stunning decline back to irrelevancy the last few years.
After the LaVine trade, Donovan has no true stars on his team and he will have to endure a rough last few months of the season. The only hope is that they tank their way into getting Cooper Flagg in the draft or Donovan could be out of his job next year.
Winner: Victor Wembanyama
Wembanyama is one of the brightest young stars in the NBA. However, he has to do too much on the Spurs. While they are better this season, he needs far more help to make San Antonio a playoff-level club. Fox should certainly help with that. Furthermore, with defenses not being able to completely focus on him, he will get to taste the benefits of playing on a team with other high-level players besides him.