De’Aaron Fox and the Sacramento Kings heard plenty of criticism and were wrote off again entering this season. Our preview of the Kings here at Vendetta had the team as destined for another lottery appearance rather than a playoff berth. However, the criticism was well deserved as the team hasn’t had a winning record since the 05-06 NBA season.
Things appear to be different in Sacramento this season. The team’s record is currently 12-12, 9th in the western conference standings. They’re off to the best start they’ve had since 2014 when their former All-Star center, Demarcus Cousins, was sidelined with meningitis derailing that season.
De’Aaron fox has arrived
De’Aaron Fox is now in year four of his pro career and is moving at lightning speeds towards his first All-Star selection. Fox early in the season was called out by ESPN analyst Amin Elhassan when he was doing a segment on the Jump claiming that “Ja Morant is who De’Aaron Fox thinks he is”. An Insult to fox comparing him to a player just coming off their rookie season.
Fox looks like he is on a mission to make Amin eat his words. The Sacramento Kings point guard is currently averaging a career-high in points at 23.1. While also shooting a career-high from three at 35.7% on almost 6 attempts a game. He certainly is in line to make the All-Star game if he keeps up this production.
Most recently Fox won Western conference player of the week honors after leading the kings to a 4-0 record while averaging 31.0 points, 2.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists. He is looking like the best player on the court with his dynamic scoring in transition and his outstanding skills as a facilitator. Fox is doing everything right for a Kings team looking to shake some things up in the western conference this year.
Internal Roster Improvements
De’Aaron Fox’s play isn’t the only thing exciting about Sacramento Kings Basketball this season. The front office has executed moves to set up this roster with a mix of productive veterans like Harrison Barnes, Cory Joseph, and Nemanja Bjelica. And a Plethora of young exciting players like Buddy Hield, Richaun Holmes, and most notably one of the Rookie of the Year favorites Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton has done well stepping up in a big way during his rookie season filling up the hole in production left by Bogdan Bogdanovic’s departure and already making winning plays in late-game situations.
The NBA’s decision to rework the playoff formatting this season allowing the 9th and 10th seeds to enter a play-in tournament to decide the final two playoff spots. It may not take much for the kings to have a chance at breaking their playoff drought if they keep up this level of play. In the year the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers broke their decade long postseason droughts maybe the Sacramento Kings will follow suit.
