Earlier this month, the Sacramento Kings said goodbye to their starting point guard of the last eight years.
On the surface, the breakup seemed pretty cordial. It was reported that Fox probably wouldn't re-sign with the Kings when his current contract ended, the two parties eventually decided to explore a trade, Fox provided them with a preferred destination, and the Kings traded him to that team (the San Antonio Spurs). The end, right?
Unfortunately, for fans of clean breakups, there seems to be more to the story than initially meets the eye.
Fox and Sabonis were more like Shaq and Kobe than we thought
For the last three years, Fox and Domantas Sabonis were one of the best duos in the NBA. Together, they helped the Kings break their dreaded 16-year playoff drought and, in the process, gave them their most successful era of the last two decades.
On the court, the tandem connected for so many dribble handoffs that it was hard to imagine any ill will could ever exist between the two All-Stars. However, this recent sequence of Instagram events shows that Fox and Sabonis were more like Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant than we ever imagined.
If you don't get the reference, in the early 2000s, O'Neal and Bryant led the Los Angeles Lakers to three NBA titles (at times, at the expense of our Kings). But despite all the winning they achieved together, the two grew to resent one another, leading to O'Neal being traded to the Miami Heat to appease Bryant.
While likely not as intense of a feud, it seems like Fox and Sabonis were not the best of friends, either. What are we referring to? On Wednesday, it was revealed that Fox was no longer following Sabonis on Instagram. Later on, Sabonis retaliated by unfollowing Fox.
When asked about his decision in the comments of an Instagram post, Fox had this to say about the situation (note: the comments have since been deleted).
The way Fox is moving is weird asf 👎🏽 yet some of yall be doing everything to protect fox pic.twitter.com/FGeOhWr7eP
— Alex (@alejandrozi_) February 12, 2025
To be fair, Fox is technically right. Just because the two players shared the court together for a few years doesn't mean they need to be best friends. It also must be annoying to have a bunch of strangers monitoring everything you do on social media.
Still, given how much synergy the two had on the court, it is sad to think that it wasn't the same off of it.