De'Aaron Fox only made the playoffs once while with the Sacramento Kings, and the San Antonio Spurs are expected to go deeper than his Kings' team ever did, but he's not feeling the pressure quite yet.
The San Antonio Spurs are up 1-0 on the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, in large part thanks to Victor Wembanyama's historical outing. Wemby finished with 35 points, the most of any Spurs player in their postseason debut, and the Spurs took home a 111-98 win.
However, Wembanyama couldn't do it himself. Devin Vassell and Dylan Harper played key minutes, and Luke Kornet stepped up when Wemby went to the bench. Overlooked was De'Aaron Fox, who finished with a cool 17 points and eight assists.
Despite being the veteran leader on the Spurs, Fox only has one playoff series under his belt. His Sacramento Kings made it to the postseason in 2023, but lost to the underdog Golden State Warriors in seven games. Fox averaged 27 points in that series, but it wasn't enough.
Despite limited experience, he isn't feeling the pressure this season.
De'Aaron Fox Outlines Two Different Playoff Experiences
One of the things that made Fox an attractive trade target for the Spurs was his cool composure, especially under pressure. In 2023, he won the league's first Clutch Player of the Year Award, and he hasn't lost a step since then.
As the favorites, there is some pressure on the Spurs to make short work of the Blazers. Fox, however, simply sees it as doing what they should easily be able to do.
"Not trying to look past this series, but I think you feel the pressure more as you go on," he explained. "So for me, it's like I don't really feel the pressure right now, even though we're expected to win this series, I don't think I feel the pressure."
In 2023, the Kings were the third seed and the Warriors were sixth, barely missing the play-in games, but Golden State was more experienced and coming off a title run. Everyone had the Warriors advancing, so being the true favorite is new to Fox.
"We weren't expected to win that series," he summed up. "Obviously, we were the higher seed, but that was a team that just won the championship. Here, we're definitely expected to win this series, but as I said, I'm more of a calm person, not really worried about what's said on the outside. I think we put more pressure on ourselves in here than anything that could be going on outside."
With no pressure, fans can expect the Spurs to treat the next three games like any other. After their successful regular season, that's exactly the attitude they should have.