The Fox Saga – What Went Wrong?

Another Chapter of Kings Turmoil

The Kings franchise player being traded for an underwhelming return. An all too familiar story for the Sacramento Kings in their 40-year history here in this city.

First it was Chris Webber, then DeMarcus Cousins, and now, De’Aaron Fox. The one difference here is that Fox is the only franchise player in history to signal his desire to leave Sacramento. He and his agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group, did everything in their power to make sure the entire NBA world knew Fox only wanted to play in San Antonio. How did we get to this situation? No one in their right minds would believe you if you told them before the season that Mike Brown and De’Aaron Fox would be gone before the deadline.

There are many factors that led to Fox choosing to take his talents to San Antonio and team up with the young alien in Texas. The constant ineptitude of the Kings franchise, including ownership and front office executives, to build a team around Fox to place him in contention for a title during his seven years plus here, played arguably the biggest role in his decision-making. Sure, they made the Playoffs in the 2022-23 season, but Monte McNair, Wes Wilcox, and the front office decided to stay put that off-season and run it back in 2023-24. The team slightly regressed the following season, winning 46 games and losing in the play-in. The front office stood pat at the deadline, even though the team had clear holes that made being a Playoff team a real question, let alone becoming a true title contender. Then, the Kings signed arguably the biggest free agent in their history, DeMar DeRozan, a flashy move and certain upgrade over Harrison Barnes. However, they failed to address clear wing depth and length issues.

While making the Playoffs marked a major success and cause for celebration for Vivek Ranadive, the front office, and fans across the city, the same could not be said for all the players on the team. Sure, it was certainly a monkey off the back of Fox, who shouldered much of the pressure of helping break the 16-year Playoff drought, but the players clearly had bigger aspirations. Talk of competing for a championship spread around training camp at the start of the 2023-24 season. A lot of the roster came from other franchises where they regularly played in the Playoffs, like Sabonis in Indiana and Huerter in Atlanta. Perhaps the onus of pushing for a title unknowingly creeped up on the Kings front office quicker than they would have thought, leading to less leeway when it came to crafting the roster. The complacency could very well have been what cost them their franchise player.

At the same time, there are things Fox could have done differently to make this situation better. Understandably, he did not want to sign the 3 year, $165 million extension quite yet because he could have qualified for the supermax extension if he made an All-NBA team this season. However, he never stated outright that was the only reason he did not want to sign the extension. When your franchise guy is not making his future with your team clear, that can handicap a front office when it comes to making win now moves. Do you still give up an unprotected or lightly protected first round picks for role players, like Cam Johnson or John Collins, if you are not sure if De’Aaron Fox will be a Sacramento King a couple years from now?

Fox’s comments on The Draymond Green Show certainly didn’t help things either. Fox said “I just want to win” on the podcast, and pointed to the fact that he wants to make sure the team isn’t fighting for a play-in spot every year. Around the time of these comments, Rich Paul came to town to meet with Kings brass, two games after the podcast, on what the plan was for the team. If that’s not a red flag, I don’t know what is.

These types of comments and actions aren’t necessarily the things a loyal player would do. It’s fine if Fox wanted to play in a situation he thought was more stable and optimal for winning. But you can’t say you want to end your career here when you won’t commit to a long-term future in Sacramento. And it’s understandable you want to compete for a title, but the team was coming off two 46+ winning seasons and added a potential future Hall-of-Famer in DeMar DeRozan in the offseason, so it’s not like the team was locked into guaranteed mediocrity for years to come.

Fox and the Kings front office both have a share of the blame for how things played out. The end to the Fox era in Sacramento was messier than it needed to be, and the Kings came out as losers in the whole thing. The return of Zach LaVine and multiple first and second round picks is a fairly good package on the face of things. But when you think about how the Kings got older, more injury prone, worse defensively and didn’t address their weaknesses with wing depth, it is tough to be optimistic about the outlook of the franchise in the post-Fox era.