A new star has entered the NBA trade-deadline fray. The Sacramento Kings have reportedly made De’Aaron Fox available ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. The one-time All-Star opted against signing a contract extension with the franchise during the summer. He will become a free agent after the 2025-26 season.
According to insider Chris Haynes, Fox already has a preferred destination in mind. As such, other interested parties may be instructed not to get involved in trying to acquire him.
“Sources: Kings star De’Aaron Fox is zeroed in on landing spot as franchise looks to possibly move him,” Haynes reported via X. “Interested teams will likely be discouraged from trading for him being he’s set to become UFA in 2026. Fox’s unwillingness to sign extension has positioned the situation here.”
The Kings don’t have much leverage in this situation. The longer they hold onto Fox, the bigger the risk of him running down his contract and leaving for nothing. As such, they will likely be forced to accept a middle-of-the-road type of offer.
Assuming the Kings don’t get an All-Star-level player in return for Fox, their current roster construction could begin to tumble. The Kings are built around Fox’s speed and the playmaking ability of Domantas Sabonis. Without Fox pushing the tempo, the Kings rotation could quickly falter.
As such, we could see both Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan hit the trade market in the summer. The Kings have Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis as high-potential young talents. If their ability to continually improve toward being a contender ends with Fox walking out the door, it would make sense to enter a rebuilding or retooling process around those two youngsters.
Moving DeRozan and Sabonis would help round out the franchise’s future assets. A Fox deal would also likely contain a handful of future draft picks.
After multiple years of stability, the Kings are back to being a dysfunctional franchise. Hopefully for Sacramento, strong leadership from the front office and smart trade decisions can quickly bring the feel-good factor back to the fan base.