In 2023, De'Aaron Fox led the Sacramento Kings to the third seed, their best finish since the 2005 season, before losing in the first round to the Golden State Warriors. No matter, fans thought. The Kings are a team on the rise, and now that they have a taste of the postseason, they will be back in force.
Sacramento hasn't really come close to the postseason since, and last year, Fox was fed up and demanded a trade to the San Antonio Spurs. Those seven games remain his only postseason experience, but he hopes he can turn that bitter series loss into lessons that he can carry and impart to his new team.
Fox Admits It's An Uphill Battle
On paper, the Spurs should be title favorites. After all, they boast the second-best record in a loaded Western Conference, beat the Oklahoma City Thunder four times, and have winning records over the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Lakers as well.
However, Fox knows that the meat of the regular season is different than the playoff push, which is different than the postseason. From here, it's still an uphill battle.
"Whenever you're playing after the break and, you know, like looking at the end of our, the last like two weeks of our season, we're playing a bunch of teams that are gonna be fine for playoff spots and positioning," he explained. "You have to be ready for that."
These Spurs, in recent years, have been well out of the race by the end of the All-Star Break, so they are in unfamiliar territory. The season has been tough, and it will only get tougher.
"The level of physicality goes up, the speed of the game goes up, referees swallow the whistle a little bit more," Fox listed. "When it's your first time going through that, you know, it's definitely a learning experience. That's why the teams that are competing are usually teams that have a lot of experience with guys who have been there and done that."
The Spurs, with the exceptions of Harrison Barnes and Luke Kornet, haven't really "been there and done that," although they have the talent to go on a deep run, provided they understand what they'll be up against.