De'Aaron Fox's massive contract extension makes LaMelo Ball's deal look like a bargain

The league's latest mega-deal makes Charlotte's superstar point guard look underpaid.

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

LaMelo Ball had just kick started his climb up the NBA ranks when he agreed to a massive five-year, $203 million contract with the Charlotte Hornets in July of 2023.

He was 17 months removed from his first All-Star game appearance, five months removed from becoming the second-youngest player in league history to amass 1,000 points, rebounds, and assists (behind only LeBron James), and the burgeoning point guard was on the precipice of superstardom, blending his effervescent play style with tangible on-court results.

However, much of Ball's momentum that was carrying him into the NBA's upper-echelon of point guards has been stunted since he received that contract extension.

Wrist and ankle ailments (including one that he was nursing when he signed his new deal) have turned Ball into more of a 'what if' than the 'sure thing' he was tracking towards becoming. When he's on the court Ball has been productive -- he just hasn't been able to stay in the lineup.

LaMelo Ball has played in 69 of a potential 164 games since becoming the highest-paid player on the Charlotte Hornets. There has been much consternation about the deal that locks him into Charlotte until the summer of 2030 when he will become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career, but a recent extension of one of Ball's closest rivals helps paint LaMelo's contract extension in a more favorable light.

De'Aaron Fox's mega-deal makes LaMelo Ball's deal look like peanuts

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

On Monday, De'Aaron Fox signed a four-year, $222 million contract with the San Antonio Spurs, linking the All-Star point guard with Victor Wembanyama for the foreseeable future. Questions about San Antonio's roster-building strategy aside (because what are they going to do with overlapping skill sets of Fox, Dylan Harper, and Stephon Castle on the same roster?), spending this exorbitant amount of cash on a player of Fox's level is an interesting choice.

Statistically speaking, Fox and Ball are fairly similar.

Career Statistics	LaMelo Ball	De'Aaron Fox
Points per game	21.0	21.5
Rebounds per game	6.0	3.9
Assists per game	7.4	6.1
Steals per game	1.5	1.4
Blocks per game	0.3	0.4
Field goal percentage	42.1%	47%
Three-point percentage	36.5%	33%
Effective field goal percentage	50.8%	51.5%

Their play styles couldn't be more different, though.

Fox is a pick-and-roll maestro that bends defenses with elite speed and soft touch around the basket. He's a serviceable perimeter defender that uses his body and lateral athleticism to stay in front of ball handlers.

Ball needs no introduction to Hornets fans -- folks who have been invested in LaMelo's NBA career can quickly point out the difference in play style based on that quick synopsis of Fox's game.

In the grand scheme of NBA point guards, Fox probably ranks slightly ahead of Ball. His consistency, clean bill of health, and overall play during his career make him a safer bet to an NBA franchise.

However, the difference in their annual salaries doesn't match the difference in their impact and production.

Over the life of his four-year extension that kicks in at the start of the 2026-27 NBA season, Fox will account for over 30% of San Antonio's cap space. That bloated percentage is higher than Karl-Anthony Towns, Luka Doncic, Pascal Siakam, and a host of other players that are objectively more valuable than Fox at this stage of his career.

Ball, on the other hand, is under contract until 2028-29 and will never account for more than 25% of Charlotte's overall cap space between now and then. LaMelo's ~$3M/year raises will actually be outgrown by the league's ballooning salary cap, making Ball's contract less of a burden as it plays out.

Charlotte's timing in locking up their superstar point guard long-term could not have been better. As his peers secure lucrative extensions, the Hornets can sit back and watch LaMelo's contract age like a fine wine.

Lastly, on San Antonio.

Dishing out that large sum of money to Fox ahead of Victor Wembanyama's fully-developed prime is a puzzling choice. Until Wemby hits his lunar-high ceiling, San Antonio should keep themselves as flexible as possible long-term as they attempt to build a death star around their supernatural engine.

Of course, Wembanaya is good enough to make up for any financial gaffes that San Antonio's front office may make, but in my opinion, inking Fox, a player who is nowhere near the league's top ten talents, to this massive deal, is an unforced error that the Spurs will need to rectify on the margins.

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