Over the last few years, Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox has gone from a good player to a bona fide star.
Last season, he seemed to finally get full recognition for his abilities, as he averaged 25.0 points and 6.1 assists a game while shooting a career-high 51.2 percent from the field and earning his first All-Star Game nod.
He was also the winner of the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year Award, as he helped the Kings to the third seed in the Western Conference and their first playoff appearance since 2006.
Fox talked about how he likes to keep it real with his teammates as a leader, per the Kings’ official Twitter account.
Fox taking the lead 🦊🤝 pic.twitter.com/oTjz1nXPIa
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) October 12, 2023
After being a perennial contender and coming very close to winning the NBA championship in the early 2000s, the Kings had been a laughingstock for years, but Fox is the biggest reason they’re relevant again.
In their first-round playoff series against the then-defending world champion Golden State Warriors, he had two 38-point performances to help them be competitive with Stephen Curry and company before they fell by 20 points at home in Game 7.
Now the challenge for Sacramento is to build on what they did last year and win a playoff series for the first time since 2004.
That will not be easy, as a number of teams in the West, including the Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Pelicans, and Los Angeles Clippers, all of whom won fewer games than Sacramento last year, are expected to have better records this season.
NEXT: De’Aaron Fox Talks Expectations For Kings Players This Season