On Tuesday, news broke that the Sacramento Kings would be open to moving star point guard De'Aaron Fox ahead of the upcoming NBA trade deadline. As they have been known to do, fans of the Los Angeles Lakers immediately began thinking of ways their team could swing a trade for the All-Star, as Los Angeles looks to maximize the final years of LeBron James' career.

Unfortunately for those folks, new intel announced shortly after the Fox news was initially reported made the prospects of such a trade happening dubious at best, according to NBA insider Shams Charania of ESPN.

“One thing I can say, with Rich Paul, we know he's got LeBron James and Anthony Davis on the Lakers,” said Charania. “I'm told the Lakers are not part of that destination of choice for De'Aaron Fox potentially. But he is now potentially entering the NBA's trade market.”

A tough break for the Lakers

Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox (5) looks over his shoulder after scoring a basket advantage during the fourth quarter at Golden 1 Center.
Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The Lakers have long been on the lookout for a third star to pair alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but it doesn't appear likely that Fox will be the one to fill that void.

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Rob Pelinka and company already made one relatively large move this year by trading D'Angelo Russell for a package revolving around Dorian Finney-Smith; however, it would appear unlikely at the current juncture that Los Angeles takes any other major swings before the trade deadline.

Meanwhile, this news has to hurt for fans of the Sacramento Kings, who less than two years ago saw their team make the playoffs for the first time in over a decade but have been on a downhill trajectory ever since.

It remains to be seen whether the Kings are looking to simply retool around some of their other pieces, namely Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan, or if they are embracing a full-on rebuild, with Fox being just the first of many potential dominoes to fall.

Fox is sure to have plenty of suitors around the league, including the San Antonio Spurs, who are desperately searching for a true number two option to Victor Wembanyama, so its should be an interesting couple of weeks leading up to the trade deadline.