The Spurs may have a roster problem hiding inside one of their biggest offseason moves. De’Aaron Fox arrived in San Antonio to give Victor Wembanyama an established backcourt partner, but the emergence of Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper has quickly changed the equation. Now, there’s a radical solution. San Antonio could flip Fox for Clippers guard Darius Garland, potentially giving both teams a cleaner path forward.
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On The Ringer podcast, Bill Simmons suggested that the Clippers could approach the Spurs about swapping Garland for Fox.
“Yo, we have Garland. We love him, but if you want to talk about flipping four years of Fox for two years of Garland and throwing some of your stuff at us, we’re happy to have the conversation,” Simmons said.
The idea goes beyond a simple change of scenery.
Simmons believes San Antonio could use Garland’s shorter contract to address its growing financial commitments, while LA could turn Garland’s remaining years into a longer-term veteran piece and additional draft capital.
“We didn’t realize we were gonna get Harper when we did the, you know, the wink-wink with the Fox extension. We were gonna have to have money to pay Wemby and Castle and eventually Harper. Could Garland be a two-year stopgap now instead of four? And could we use some of our picks and other stuff to basically get out of those last two years?”
For the Spurs, the timing makes the proposal particularly interesting.
San Antonio acquired Fox to provide another high-level creator alongside Wembanyama, but the backcourt now looks considerably deeper than it did when the deal happened.
Castle has continued developing, while Harper gives the Spurs another young lottery-level talent to develop. That creates a potential overlap with Fox, whose game relies heavily on having the ball in his hands.
Garland offers a different profile.
The Clippers guard brings shooting and the ability to operate without dominating every possession. He shot 39.6% from 3-pt range last season and owns a career mark of 38.9%.
That skill could be particularly valuable next to Wemby. Darius Garland can stretch defenses with his pull-up shooting and operate in pick-and-roll actions, forcing defenders to make difficult choices when Wemby rolls toward the basket.
The Spurs would also gain more flexibility by taking on a shorter commitment.
Fox is beginning a four-year, $229 million extension while Garland has two years remaining on his 5-year, $197 million deal. A team acquiring Garland would inherit only the final two years and $87 million, with Garland scheduled to earn $42 million in 2026-27 and $44 million in 2027-28 before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2028.
Simmons specifically connected that difference to San Antonio’s future salary structure, with Wembanyama eventually due for a massive extension of his own.
That is where the proposal becomes more than a basketball fit.
San Antonio could potentially avoid carrying De’Aaron Fox’s through the years when Wemby, Castle, and Harper require major financial commitments. Garland would give the Spurs a veteran bridge while leaving more room to make decisions around their young core.
For the Clippers, the calculation runs in the opposite directions.
“If you’re the Clippers, you’re like, Well, De’Aaron Fox, veteran guy with (Keaton) Wagler kind of weirdly makes sense as a combo. We’ve seen both of those guys play off the ball, and we could grab some more picks and, I don’t know. It was just a thought,” Simmons added.
The LA side could take on Fox’s longer contract while asking San Antonio to include draft compensation.
The Clippers’ future became considerably complicated after the NBA punished the franchise in the Kawhi Leonard situation. With five first-round picks stripped from LA, acquiring additional draft assets carries obvious value.
Fox would also give the Clippers a proven veteran guard who can create offense and play alongside their existing pieces. Instead of simply absorbing Garland’s remaining contract, LA could use the opportunity to reshape its backcourt while rebuilding its depleted draft cupboard.
The unusual proposal makes sense precisely because both franchises face very different problems.
For now, that is all it is: a proposal. No team has publicly indicated that it wants to make the swap. It leaves the idea firmly in the realm of NBA speculation rather than an emerging trade negotiation.