Sacramento Kings: Re-drafting the team’s last 4 first-round picks

2017 (No. 6 Overall): De’Aaron Fox > De’Aaron Fox

After some consideration, I decided to stick with De’Aaron Fox here. Realistically, the only other option was Donovan Mitchell, but the step back he’s taken this season convinced me to keep the Kings’ original pick near the top of the 2017 NBA Draft.

At this point, Fox is starting to look like arguably the best point guard from the 2017 draft class. Not only has he made developmental leaps and bounds in 2018-19, but he’s gotten the Kings back into the playoff picture. Even a year ago, that seemed like a ridiculous idea.

Just look at the numbers Fox is putting up, if you’ve been living under a rock and not watching any Kings basketball. Right now, the sophomore guard is averaging 18.1 points, 7.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game while also shooting 47.2 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from downtown. Put simply, he’s starting to look like the star Sacramento drafted him to be.

What’s more is his presence has played a huge role in the development of his teammates. Playing at a blistering pace due to, well, his blistering speed, Fox has turned the Kings into one of the deadliest teams in transition. As a result, his floormates are getting more good looks — as evidenced by the aforementioned 7.6 assists per game.

Realistically, Fox’ emergence may not be enough to vault the Kings into the postseason. However, the young gun is doing his darnedest to make it happen. As long as he continues to put up big performances like he did against the Los Angeles Lakers a week ago, he’ll be well on his way to reaching the upper-echelon of NBA point guards.

Swapping him out for someone else just didn’t seem necessary.