San Antonio Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox. Brett Davis-Imagn Images

De'Aaron Fox makes franchise history in Spurs debut

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Feb 6, 2025 3:57 PM ET

De'Aaron Fox felt right at home in his Spurs debut on Wednesday, a 126-125 win over the Hawks.

Within the first minute, he assisted a Devin Vassell dunk and a Victor Wembanyama three. Spurs interim coach Mitch Johnson made a concerted effort to get Fox involved in nearly all the actions, sometimes even as a screener. The athletic guard didn't disappoint.

By halftime, Fox had 18 points and six assists while shooting 8-of-12. In the second half, he had a rough time shooting the ball (3-of-10) but impacted the game in other ways, with seven assists, three steals and two rebounds. He also made a crucial play driving to the rim when the scores were tied at 123 with 32.1 seconds left, which led to a dunk for Wemby.

Fox would finish the game with 24 points, 13 assists, five rebounds and three steals, making Spurs franchise history as the first player to tally those numbers in his debut.

DE'AARON FOX IS THE FIRST SPUR TO HAVE A 20 PT-10 AST GAME IN HIS DEBUT

San Antonio gets the road win in a late thriller‼️ pic.twitter.com/GLm8prIfgH
— ESPN (@espn) February 6, 2025

After the game, coach Johnson was elated while acknowledging that Fox scored or assisted in 56 points in his debut.

"Selfishly, as a coach, I think that's probably about as complete of a game you'd hope for the first game," Johnson said of Fox, via ESPN's Michael C. Wright. "You saw the potential. It's tantalizing. He's dynamic. He's going to unlock a whole different element for our team."

The one "different element" Fox brings to the Spurs was obvious in Wednesday's game — dribble penetration. There were multiple instances when San Antonio's offense appeared stagnant but caught fire when Fox drove to the rim. Fox ranks seventh in the league in drives to the rim with 16 per game, amounting to 11.0 points. For context, no other Spur ranks in the top 50, with only rookie Stephon Castle (7.6 drives per game) featuring in the top 100.

Veteran point guard Chris Paul believes Wembanyama stands to benefit the most from Fox's dribble penetration.

"He's played with some really good centers, but I don't think anybody like Vic that can open the floor up," Paul said of Fox. "We ain't even had a practice with him, other than shootaround. So, we want to learn and figure it out as we go."

With Wednesday's win, the Spurs (22-26) remain embroiled in a tight battle with the Warriors (25-25), Suns (25-25) and Kings (25-25) for the final few play-in spots. The Spurs are trying to end a five-year playoff drought.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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