De'Aaron Fox to Embrace Spurs' 'Winning Culture' Says NBA Legend

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jonah Kubicek | Last updated Feb 7, 2025 11:36 AM ET

After seven and a half seasons with the Sacramento Kings, De'Aaron Fox has emerged as one of the best guards in the NBA. He has an All-Star nod and an All-NBA appearance to his name, and routinely averages 25 points per game.

However, during his Kings' tenure, he had five head coaches and only made the postseason once. Now, after being traded to the San Antonio Spurs, he will finally have some consistency.

Fox, like most Kings' players over the last 20-odd years, hasn't had any sort of team success. The culture in Sacramento, it would seem, is rotten. That said, the Spurs have been the model of consistency since the late 1990s.

One current NBA legend thinks heading to San Antonio is exactly what Fox needs.

"I think De'Aaron Fox is an incredible talent," said Paul George on his self-titled podcast. "He has an alien out there with him, a one-of-one talent. San Antonio's culture is a winning culture, and I think Sacramento has been, outside of the DeMarcus Cousins days and the 2000s early era, outside of that, Sacramento has been struggling quite a bit to find their identity."

After Fox requested a trade from the Kings, fans were quick to turn on him, blaming him for the lack of team success. Fox was quick to respond, defending himself from the Purple and Black loyal.

"Everyone has the same story about the dysfunction but yeah it's my fault," he said in a quickly-deleted social media post.

While the Spurs are far removed from their Tim Duncan-led dynasty, Manu Ginobili, David Robinson, Gregg Popovich, and RC Buford remain active figures in the organization, resulting in one of the more stable NBA cultures.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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