De'Aaron Fox certainly was missed in the Kings' latest heartbreaking loss to the Golden State Warriors, but the team might not be without him for much longer.
The All-Star point guard could return in one of Sacramento's next two games, The Athletic's Shams Charania reported Thursday morning.
"He's, right now, day to day. And I'm told he could play as soon as Saturday in Houston or Monday in Houston," Charania said on FanDuel's "Run it Back." "They have two straight games in Houston. So he's a quick healer, this is an early part of the season, but look for De'Aaron Fox to return within a week of the injury, which was worse than a Grade 1."
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The Kings' current three-game road trip will end in Houston with back-to-back games against the Rockets. Fox, who grew up just outside of Houston, will look to make his return in his hometown.
After practice Thursday, Fox described the pain level on a scale of one to 10 as a four, but said he feels like he's "almost there" and "close" to returning.
"I don't want to rush back but I want to make sure I'm ready," Fox said. "I never felt like I was going to miss two or three weeks or anything like that, but I knew it would take days or a week or so."
NBA
Fox sustained the injury in the fourth quarter of Sacramento's overtime win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night at Golden 1 Center. He was helped to the locker room after being down for several minutes but later returned to the game. He tried to give it a go in the extra quarter but was pulled after he continued to limp on the floor.
In his absence, the Kings were able to pull out the victory led by a Malik Monk overtime outburst. But they fell just short three days later against their Northern California rivals in San Francisco, falling by one point to a Klay Thompson game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds remaining -- something Fox described as "really hard" to watch from the bench.
Earlier this week, NBC Sports California spoke with Stanford Medicine's Dr. Oji about the kind of injury Fox sustained. Dr. Oji explained that a timeline for return can vary, but stated that with athletes he has treated in the past with similar injuries, the timeline for return typically is "several weeks." He added that some athletes can come back earlier, but they might not be 100 percent right away.
In the playoffs last season, Fox played through a fractured finger and still balled out for seven games. Even after sustaining the ankle injury Sunday, Fox wasn't supposed to go back into the game but told his coaches he was going to play and just walked onto the court.
There isn't much that will keep Fox off the court for an extended amount of time, so if there's even the slightest chance that he's able to play, consider it a guarantee.