Fox was a key figure in Sacramento before getting traded. Now he's in a happier state, per one NBA insider.
De'Aaron Fox flashes a constant smile -- all in his post Sacramento Kings life.
Now with the San Antonio Spurs, NBA insider Marc J. Spears revealed Fox is in a happier state since that Sacramento trade one year ago.
“I haven’t stopped smiling since I’ve been here,” Fox told Spears via ESPN's Andscape.
Fox once dropped 21.5 points a night for the Kings. He also dished out 6.1 assists per game and grabbed 3.9 rebounds.
But he's most beloved for ending the franchise's long 16-year playoff drought when Mike Brown was head coach -- helping "light the beam" in the process.
He's still fourth all-time in Kings history for total points (11,064) and assists (3,146). Sacramento welcomed his defensive prowess too -- as Fox remains second all-time with 731 steals. He easily became the Kings' most popular player since names like Chris Webber, Mike Bibby and Peja Stojakovic starred inside the former Arco Arena.
Spears, however, painted an "ecstatic" picture following Fox's departure.
"A year ago, Fox was eyeing the end of his roller-coaster tenure with the Sacramento Kings. It was also 12 days before the Kings surprisingly fired Mike Brown as their head coach. The Kings ultimately traded an ecstatic Fox to the Spurs in a three-team, seven-player, seven-pick deal on Feb. 5," Spears wrote.
Spears adds the Kings' failure to return to the postseason fueled his desire to seek a change. But Fox himself acknowledged the franchise was going in a direction he didn't agree with.
“We go to the playoffs and after that you want to build upon that,” Fox said to Spears. “And that doesn’t mean going from the third seed to the first seed. It just means continuing to be a playoff team. I didn’t feel like we were there. …
He adds: “Everything started going bad that summer [in 2024]. I’m in a place where I want to be [now].”
Worse for Sacramento, Fox doesn't catch himself watching any Kings games. Although he regularly stays in touch with former teammate Keegan Murray.
Fox has the San Antonio Spurs fifth in the Western Conference standings as the team shifted to Mitch Johnson as head coach. Yet San Antonio is one of three teams with the second-most victories among Western Conference teams.
Fox's new team just handed the defending NBA world champion Oklahoma City Thunder its second loss of the season during the NBA Cup tournament.
Meanwhile, his former team took a nine-point loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.