The Kings didn’t make excuses or sugarcoat anything following their disappointing exit to the 2023-24 NBA season.
Instead – after completing their first full season with real expectations – they’re soaking in the ebbs and flows of the season, learning from their mistakes and ready to elevate and grow.
Leading that campaign is none other than star point guard De’Aaron Fox, who, despite coming off a career year, knows there’s plenty of room for improvement.
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“Just continue to be more efficient on the court from all aspects,” Fox said Monday at his end-of-season exit interview. “Continue to be a better defender, to be stronger and more athletic so I can continue to get better as a player. Continue to do whatever my team asks me to do to win games.
“I wasn't as good late in games this year as I was last year, but like I said, I think we took a step backward a little bit as a team and we still have things that we can continue to get better at as a group.”
Fox entered this season as a 32.1-percent 3-point shooter on 3.8 attempts per game over the course of his first six seasons in the league. He finished this season averaging 7.8 attempts on a 36.9-percent clip. Before the calendar year flipped, he was shooting 40 percent from beyond the arc on 8.8 attempts.
His numbers slightly dropped after the NBA All-Star break, around the same time things began to click defensively for Sacramento.
NBA
While much of that was thanks to the contributions of two-way-player-turned-NBA-starter Keon Ellis and the resurgence of third-year guard Davion Mitchell, Fox continued to make steady strides defensively throughout the season.
Fox led the league in steals (150) and deflections (269), averaging two steals per game this season.
While Fox showed glimpses of his defensive potential in his seventh NBA season, Kings coach Mike Brown took note of Fox’s ability on that end of the floor when Fox was in high school – and he believes the young point guard is just scratching the surface of what he's truly capable of as an NBA defender.
Fox briefly has discussed being considered for an NBA All-Defensive Team, but he shared a more direct response Monday to whether the honor is something he’s striving for in his career.
“Yeah, definitely,” Fox said. “And I think a lot of that comes with team defense as well. Just continuing to build as a defensive team helps all individuals in that aspect, and if it comes then it comes and if it doesn't, it doesn't.
“But for us, I want to be on a team that's solid defensively, night in and night out. We want to continue to build defensively. … So we have to be able to be great on both ends of the court if we want to be a championship-contending team.”
No one has witnessed the evolution of Fox’s game quite like Harrison Barnes, who has played with the All-Star guard for nearly six of Fox’s seven seasons in the NBA.
Barnes, too, believes the sky's the limit for his teammate.
“I don't think there's any denying what Fox is capable of,” Barnes said Monday. “I've played with some of the best in this league – some of the best ever do it – and he has that potential. So I think the next evolution for him, honestly, is really just continue to do what he does, but continue to make winning the main focus.
“I think these last two years have definitely shifted the narrative around him. He's always had the numbers, but just winning more games and being in that conversation. And I think the only difference between him and some of the other guys in his position in those conversations is the wins, the playoffs experience, all that type of stuff.”
Fox will turn 27 two months into the 2024-25 season, his eighth season.
He has done what a team and organization can ask of its star player, which is get better every year. And Fox is confident there is another level to his game that he can reach.
“Definitely,” Fox said. “I mean I’m 26, been in the league for seven years. I feel like I've gotten better every year, so why do I think that my growth just stops now? I still have things that I can work towards. I've had stretches where I look really good and stretches where it wasn't good. You're going to have a slump here and there.
“I work on my game. I work on my game every day. Regardless if it’s just coming in here and getting shots or coming in here and going live. I work. So, I don't feel like I'm done growing as a player.”
Fox is well on his way to NBA superstardom, and he's primed to bring the Kings with him to that next level.