De’Aaron Fox was popping up in plenty of trade rumors over the last month, with Ben Simmons and Domantas Sabonis mentioned as possible incoming options for the Sacramento Kings.
However, a lot of that talk fizzled out after The Athletic's Shams Charania reported that the Kings have no plans to trade Fox, choosing instead to build around he and Tyrese Haliburton moving forward.
Well, it turns out that rival NBA executives aren't buying that the Kings will hold onto Fox.
"Numerous competing teams continue to believe that Sacramento is willing to part with De’Aaron Fox despite the Kings’ stated preference, conveyed via The Athletic, to build around Tyrese Haliburton and Fox," writes longtime NBA insider Marc Stein on his Substack.
It's possible that the Kings leaked that info about wanting to build around Fox and Haliburton for leverage in trade negotiations.