What De’Aaron Fox means to the Spurs’ pace
Fox is fast and the Spurs are efficient in transition. Bringing them together just adds another weapon for Wembanyama.
Since entering the NBA in 2017, De’Aaron Fox’s reputation bore one predominant skill that will surely be brought up in any analysis: he’s fast. Now, he brings that skill, along with the rest of his bag, to San Antonio.
While it’s known he is quick, it’s important to note that he isn’t only just that. The general consensus is he’s the fastest player in the Association and has been for several years, a fact that’s backed up by the annual NBA General Manager survey. 52 percent of the executives questioned voted Fox as the fastest player with the ball at the start of the 2024-2025 season, an honor he had already received three times previous.
Speed can obviously be a major factor when talking about one of this era’s buzzwords, pace. “Playing with pace” is something every coach mentions at some point or another. It’s a good talking point because it’s fundamental. Quicker possessions mean more possessions which means (potentially) more points. Currently, the Spurs are just over 100 possessions per 48 minutes, 9th in the league. And if they want to increase that, they just added the right player.
As mentioned, Fox is quick, and he uses that to his advantage, In his previous 4.5 seasons with the Kings, they played 1.85 possessions per 48 minutes faster with him on the court compared to off. Add that to the Spurs’ current pace, and they would be 5th in the league.
Along with those added possessions, Fox has a knack for converting them into points. On average, the Kings added 2.4 points per 100 possessions with transition play over the 2022, 2023, and 2024 seasons, per cleaningtheglass.com, a number that sits right around the 95th percentile among guards. And while it shouldn’t go unmentioned that that number was -1.3 this season with Sacramento, it can be caveated with the context surrounding the Kings and Fox until he was traded. In his young career with San Antonio, Fox has added 10.5 transition points per 100 possessions. A number that, while unsustainable, is still remarkable and could be a sign of things to come.
Fox now has the added benefit of Victor Wembanyama running the floor with him. He may not be as quick as Fox but he is the tallest and longest player on the court. This opens up a world of possibilities. Wembanyama can leak out to get back on offense early, and Fox can catch up to him. Wembanyama can swat shots away at the basket and feed to a racing Fox down the floor. Fox can grab rebounds and steals and go with Wembanyama trailing, either as a shooter or finisher. Both have the athletic abilities to make it a strong feature of their two man game.
On top of this, the Spurs already have been efficient in transition play, scoring 1.29 points per play, 5th in league. However, they don’t get out and run in transition all that often, only 15.4 percent of possessions. Which, on its own, isn’t a bad thing, a team shouldn’t play with pace for the sake of it and Chris Paul is a floor general that favors a slowed down halfcourt style. But now that they have the added weapon of Fox, they can take that efficiency and compound it into a deadly threat. Once the two stars get the chemistry down, they will be a “pick your poison” situation for those trying to stop them in transition.
It’s one thing to want to play with pace, and it’s another to play with efficient pace. With Fox, it’s a real possibility. Combine that with his experience, and attitude and it’s a sign of good things to come in San Antonio. The only shame is that he wasn’t wearing Silver and Black sooner.
