After staging a huge comeback to secure their spot in the In-Season Tournament quarterfinals, the Kings dropped their first game against the Clippers 131-117. They sorely missed Keegan Murray’s Defense and couldn’t buy a three-pointer.
Malik Monk and Sasha Vezenkov were solid off the bench, and De’Aaron Fox had a big game, but other than that, it was not a particularly good game, overshadowing Fox’s production. He finished the game with 40 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 steal, marking his sixth game of the season with at least 30 points.
Playing 40 minutes the previous night did not slow Fox down, as he put on another great performance on both ends of the floor. Over his 12 games played so far, he is averaging 30.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 1.5 steals.
He leads the Kings in minutes played, scoring, and steals while also ranking fourth in the NBA in scoring per game behind only Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, and Luka Doncic.
Could Fox go down as the greatest Sacramento King ever?
Fox’s performance led Kings Post Game Live host Kyle Draper to proclaim that Fox could eventually go down as the greatest Sacramento King ever.
Could De'Aaron Fox go down as the greatest Sacramento King ever?? 👀 pic.twitter.com/EB0Bi5QsVR
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) November 30, 2023
Leading the Kings back to the playoffs after a 16-season drought and winning the first-ever Clutch Player of the Year award, Fox is already firmly cemented in Sacramento basketball history. As Matt Barnes correctly noted in response to Draper’s statement, Fox has to keep bringing the Kings wins to go down as the greatest player in the Sacramento era.
High individual scoring on a losing team doesn’t help the franchise and will not put him next to the likes of Chris Webber, for example. That doesn’t mean that Fox single-handedly has to deliver a championship but continued playoff success past the first round could put him in that position already.
Coach Mike Brown also had high praise for his All-Star point guard, saying that he is a legitimate MVP candidate. While this is not quite on the same level as saying that Fox could go down as the greatest Sacramento King, an MVP trophy would certainly help him get there.
No Kings player in the Sacramento era ever won an MVP award, and Oscar Robertson owns the early MVP trophy in franchise history. Right now, Fox is without question the Kings’ best and most important player. Despite the loss, the team has a winning record, sitting in sixth place in the West.
Fox’s outstanding play leads to wins more often than not, and if he can continue to do that for the next few years, Draper’s prediction will seem like nothing more than a simple statement.