Sacramento Kings: Grading De’Aaron Fox’s second NBA season

With the 2018-19 season firmly behind us, it’s time to grade some of the Sacramento Kings most promising young players on their seasons. This time we look at exciting, young point guard De’Aaron Fox.

It’s going to be difficult at points to put into perspective the value that De’Aaron Fox brought to the Sacramento Kings during the 2018-19 season and just what he meant to the team. Simply put, he was phenomenal.

After a shaky rookie season, the pressure was on for Fox to show signs of improvement and live up to his top-five draft-pick status. After all, the Kings did select Fox fifth overall in the 2017 NBA Draft meaning that expectations were evidently high for the Kentucky product.

To make matters worse, the Kings saw the likes of Jayson Tatum and Donovan Mitchell excel during their rookie campaigns. Even players like Lonzo Ball and Dennis Smith Jr. were arguably more productive than Fox was in his first NBA season.

The flashy plays were there in spurts of greatness, but Fox just wasn’t consistent enough to be counted on. That all changed during his second season.

Fox was truly one of the breakout players of the 2018-19 campaign as he improved in literally every single basic basketball statistic. As opposed to averages of 11.6 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game last season, Fox improved to per-game averages of 17.3 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 7.3 assists this year.

Perhaps most importantly was his massive leap in shooting percentage. Fox shot an impressive 45.8% from the field this season, up a substantial 4.6% from last year. On top of that, his shooting from behind the arc improved significantly as well as he upped his percentage from 30.7% to 37.1%.

Given that outside shooting was considered a major flaw in his offensive game during his rookie season, it was incredibly encouraging to see it improve as much as it did.

But numbers do not and cannot tell the true tale of Fox’s second NBA season. In fact, in many ways, Fox’s sophomore transformation was a microcosm of the changes that occurred within the Kings franchise themselves.

Sacramento has quickly become one of the more fun, exciting young teams in the entire NBA. Their thrilling, fast-paced style of play was a stark switch from their slow, methodical approach of years prior.

Much of that transformation can be credited solely to Fox whose blistering, high-octane play style has forced the team to match his enthusiasm. Essentially, his teammates on the court are hustling to match his effort each time they take the floor.

That’s the definition of exactly what a point guard is supposed to do. Fox makes his teammates around him better — and there’s no statistic that could accurately portray that effect.

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The 21-year-old is everything a team looks for in a franchise-altering point guard. He’s unselfish with the ball in his hands, creates plays and gets his teammates open looks, and he never stops hustling on defense putting his incredible speed to good use.

Could he still develop a bit more as a shooter? Absolutely. And perhaps he could be a little more aggressive when selecting his shots. As points, he could almost be too selfless.

But we’re just nit-picking at this point.

Fox is the real deal. A true franchise cornerstone who, at just 21-years-old, will likely continue to develop into perhaps one of the best point guards in the league. He’s already a top-15 player at his position and you could even argue that he’d crack the top 10.

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Simply put, the leap that we saw from Fox during his second NBA season was one that we hoped to see over the next three or so years. If he could take a similar leap going into the 2019-20 season, then there’s no reason why Fox shouldn’t be playing in his first career NBA All-Star Game come February.

The statistics are fantastic and the improvement is evident even just looking at his stat sheet. But Fox’s impact far exceeded simple numbers on a sheet of paper.

He brings life and excitement to a Kings team that has long been void of either. He provides leadership to a young Kings roster still very much finding their footing. And most importantly, Fox improves the game of everyone else around him each and every time he steps on to the court.

Fox embodies the current state of the Kings franchise — and he will hopefully continue to do so for many years to come.

Final Grade: A