The best version of the 2025-26 San Antonio Spurs includes De’Aaron Fox making things happen on offense. He looked the part in his season debut on Saturday.
The All-Star guard led the Spurs with 24 points in his return from an offseason hamstring injury, keying a 126-119 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. He shot 9-of-14 from the field (2-of-5 from 3-point range) with three rebounds and three assists.
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He got 15 of his points in the second quarter, with his first bucket coming on a stepback 3-pointer.
Eight different Spurs players scored in double digits during the game, with Victor Wembanyama posting 18 points, 18 rebounds and 3 blocks and Stephon Castle having 14 points and 14 assists. That was enough to cancel out a 41-point night from Trey Murphy III.
Fox arrives just after rookie guard Dylan Harper was ruled out for multiple weeks with a calf strain. There have been questions all offseason about how the Spurs will juggle ball-handling duties among Fox, Castle and Harper, but for now they can simply make sure one of them is on the floor at all times, though it looked like Castle was still the floor general when Fox was in play.
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It will be a good problem to have when Harper returns, but for now Fox and Wembanyama can start building the chemistry that was lost when the big man was ruled out for the rest of the 2024-25 season after Fox came over at the trade deadline.
Their next challenge will be a road game against the Chicago Bulls on Monday.
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