De’Aaron Fox already got a game against his former team out of his system last March when the Spurs traveled to Sacramento and lost. So he didn’t have strong feelings while Sunday’s game was winding down and he was putting the Sacramento Kings away with jump shot after jump shot.
“That’s an entirely different team and different coaching staff from who I’ve played with,” Fox told The Sacramento Bee after the Spurs 123-110 victory over Sacramento. “So, it’s just like another game.”
Fox scored 12 points in the fourth quarter and finished with 28 points and 11 assists. He was a game-high plus-20 in a game San Antonio never trailed.
The 27-year-old played under Kings coach Doug Christie after Mike Brown was fired last December, and Sacramento still employs players he has close ties with, including college teammate Malik Monk and DeMar DeRozan, whom he had an extended conversation with midcourt after the final buzzer.
“I’ve played Malik many times in my career. I’ve played DeMar many times in my career,” Fox said. “But like I said, whenever you step on the court, you let those personal relationships go and you’re trying to win.”
Sunday’s game was only Fox’s fifth of the season after missing time with a hamstring injury. He’s still working his way back into shape and getting used to his new surroundings. He only played in 17 for games San Antonio last season after electing to have season-ending surgery on his injured left pinkie finger.
Said former King Harrison Barnes, who added 20 points while making 7 of 11 against his old team: “There’s still a process of him getting his legs underneath him. But he’s starting to get into form, continuing to be himself. I think as the season goes on, it’s just going to get better and better.”
It would be hard to find more contrasting situations between Fox’s former team and his current one. The Spurs, backed by budding megastar Victor Wembanyama, are positioned to compete now and into the future. The roster has a mix of vets and promising young players while San Antonio has long been regarded as one of the premier operations in the NBA with five championship banners hanging at Frost Bank Center, all of which have been won since 1999.
The Kings, who fell to 3-11 and are near the bottom in the Western Conference standings despite having one of the oldest rosters in the NBA, are trying to make the playoffs for just the second time in 20 years. The Spurs have had just two coaches since Fox has been alive, Gregg Popovich and Mitch Johnson, who became the full-time coach for the first time this season after Popovich stepped away after suffering a mild stroke in November 2024.
The Kings have had 15 coaches over that same span, including five during Fox’s eight seasons in Sacramento after he was drafted in 2017. That lack of stability, including the firing of Brown, played a significant role in Fox electing not to sign a contract extension with Sacramento, which led to the Kings trading him to San Antonio to acquire Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls last February.
“It feels great,” Fox said of the stability he’s felt from the Spurs organization. “Obviously everybody comes in here and everybody knows that they have a job to do. Whenever you talk about stability, it’s usually from the standpoint of everybody above the players. Because as a player, you know you can be traded at any moment. But whenever you know everything else is around you, you don’t worry about that.”
The win pushed San Antonio to 9-4 where they remain in the thick of the playoff race in the competitive Western Conference. The loss was the Kings’ sixth straight, all by double figures, and the team appears likely to miss the postseason again despite having expectations to be competitive with LaVine, DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis headlining the roster.
Along with Wembanyama, the 21-year-old who appears poised to become a generational star, the Spurs have reigning rookie of the year Stephon Castle, and recent No. 2 overall pick Dylan Harper. Wembanyama didn’t play Sunday due to left calf tightness while Castle left Sunday’s game at halftime. Harper has been out with a calf strain. Still, Fox powered the Spurs to a win despite missing three prominent players.
Now, Fox is part of a group that’s competing while also developing. It would be hard to make that case for Sacramento, whose starting lineup averaged over 31-years-old Sunday. And Fox signed that extension he passed on with the Kings, inking a four-year, $229 million max extension in August.
“I thought I watched a lot of film with Mike (Brown),” Fox said. “We watch a lot of film. And obviously we have a lot of guys who are young and pretty inexperienced in this league. So I understand what we’re doing and what we’re trying to do. So it’s good. And just everything that they do here, I think, is very intentional. Regardless if it’s with the players or with the families, they just try to do the things and get people to be involved. And it’s definitely great to see, and it’s a thing that you hear about it from afar, but you see how much it is when you’re here.”
Fox’s scoring iced the game for San Antonio down the stretch Sunday while LaVine didn’t play in the fourth quarter. He had a quiet game, scoring just 8 points on 3-of-7 shooting in 24:34 on the court. Christie said he elected to go with Monk down the stretch.
“Nothing. Just trying to find a lineup that’s working,” Christie said of LaVine not playing in the fourth quarter. “... I was getting ready to put him back and Malik hits a shot and gets to the free-throw line, I can’t remember exactly what it was. But as the game went on, I knew (LaVine) might have been cold. So I wasn’t 100% sure.
“Zach is who he is. He’s who he is for us. But on any given night, we’re trying to find rotations that allow us to get over the hump and win a ball game. And tonight, not a big deal.”
Unfortunately for the Kings, they made a big deal in trading Fox, who reminded them how he can help win games down the stretch. LaVine, to be sure, won’t be on the bench for many fourth quarters. But it was hard to ignore the symbolism and the opposing directions the Kings and the Spurs are headed.