It is the end of an era in Sacramento.
De’Aaron Fox stepped foot into Sacramento as a teenage rookie in 2017. He was the face of the franchise that endured many ups and downs. He was the driving force behind a lot of those ups, including snapping the Kings’ 17-year NBA playoff drought just two seasons ago.
Eight years later, he leaves behind the only NBA organization he’s known as a 27-year-old man, husband and father. An All-Star. All-NBA team. Clutch Player of the Year.
On Sunday, the Kings reportedly traded Fox to the San Antonio Spurs and acquired Zach LaVine from the Bulls in a multi-team deal that also sent Kevin Huerter to Chicago.
So how did the Kings go from taking Steph Curry and the then-defending champion Golden State Warriors to seven games in the first round of the 2023 playoffs to trading away their cornerstone player 644 days later?
Well, it began when Fox declined to sign a contract extension entering the 2024-25 season. Or did it?
Short-term, yes. Bigger picture, not exactly.
Long before the “Beam Team” stole the hearts of basketball fans around the world, there weren’t any purple lasers shooting out of Golden 1 Center during Fox’s first few seasons with the team.
The Kings won 27 games and finished 12th in the Western Conference during Fox’s rookie year. They finished 9th (39-43), 12th (31-41), 12th (31-41) and 12th (30-52) in the four seasons that followed, respectively.
He had three different coaches in that span, a general manager change and a blockbuster trade that completely shook things up when the Kings shipped former first-round draft pick Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers for Domantas Sabonis at the 2022 trade deadline.
Then the magical 2022-23 season happened. Under another new coach, Mike Brown, Fox and the Kings reached new heights. In a shocking turn of events, Sacramento was the West’s No. 3 seed and headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Fox was a first-time All-Star. All-NBA Third Team. The winner of the league’s first Clutch Player of the Year Award.
A heartbreaking Game 7 loss to the Warriors ended the Kings’ fairytale season. Although it left a bad taste in their mouths, they returned hungrier than ever the following season.
Unfortunately for Sacramento, the West got better and the Kings stood pat. They finished the 2023-24 season with just two fewer wins yet went from the No. 3 seed to No. 9. They defeated the Warriors in their first Play-In game but fell to the New Orleans Pelicans for a fifth consecutive time, erasing their hopes of making the playoffs for a second year in a row.
Just two months prior, the Kings again were silent at the trade deadline. Their lone move was acquiring Robin Lopez from the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for cash considerations before waiving him.
Now the Kings entered an offseason where they learned their lesson the hard way that moves had to be made to compete in the stacked West that was continuing to get tougher.
Malik Monk passed up a massive payday to stay with the Kings. Then DeMar DeRozan entered the picture. A six-time NBA All-Star. A veteran presence that quite literally everyone loves in the locker room. A leader on and off the court. Both were moves that went beyond just basketball. It was a clear indication that the perception of Sacramento basketball was changing, and the basketball-loving city was finally being rewarded after nearly two decades of misery.
While all that remained true and it will never be a bad thing to acquire one of the best true scorers in the game, Sacramento still didn’t address the area it most notably lacked over the past two-plus seasons: Size and wing depth.
Now we get to this season. The Kings get off to an underwhelming 13-18 start, including a puzzling 6-12 record on their Golden 1 Center home floor. It was well reported that Fox’s agent, the powerful and prominent Rich Paul, met with Kings general manager Monte McNair and assistant general manager Wes Wilcox in late December to discuss Fox’s future.
Fox’s message and reasoning for not signing the extension never changed. He wanted to win and compete at the highest level.
After Paul met with the Kings brass, Sacramento lost five in a row at home – reaching a new rock bottom on the season. Just as the team was headed to the plane for a short trip to Los Angeles, Brown was informed he was fired.
Doug Christie was named interim coach — Fox’s fifth coach in eight years.
The timing and execution of Brown’s firing still doesn’t sit well with many. Brown had just signed a multiyear contract extension with Sacramento. He had a close relationship with Fox and brought something that had been lacking throughout his entire Kings tenure: stability. Fox openly discussed how great it felt to have Brown around long-term. They challenged one another, kept each other accountable and their partnership led to a lot of success.
But Brown’s sudden firing was so shocking that it led to much speculation, including rumors that Fox pushed for it and that his relationship with Brown had soured.
The days went on and there was not a peep from McNair or Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé about Brown’s firing. Eventually, Fox denied the rumors and seconded what his wife Recee was sharing on social media about none of it being true. The couple even had dinner with Brown and his family shortly after at a local restaurant in Roseville, Calif.
Then, bam, the news hit last week that the Kings were open to discussing Fox in a trade before Thursday’s deadline. While speaking to The Sacramento Bee’s Chris Biderman last Wednesday in Philadelphia, Fox was asked if the Kings’ decision-makers not publicly speaking up about the matter with Brown bothered him.
“I really won’t go into detail on any of that stuff,” Fox said.
In that same conversation, he also said he expects the unexpected and acknowledged that “anything is possible” in the NBA. That couldn’t have been truer when 72 hours later the Dallas Mavericks traded 25-year-old superstar Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers for 31-year-old Anthony Davis and then not even 24 hours later, Fox was shipped to San Antonio.
At the end of the day, pointing the finger or playing the blame game does no one any good. Fox made a promise to Sacramento when he entered the league as a 19-year-old. He fulfilled it to the best of his ability and played his heart out while fully devoting himself to the city and its fans.
Fox, the longest-tenured Kings player in the Sacramento era, leaves first in assists and steals, second in points, third in free throws and fourth in games played and 3-pointers made.
He leaves behind his best friend in Monk, “Uncle Keegz” in Keegan Murray, who he has helped blossom over the past three years, the rest of the “Beam Team” core and teammates he made unforgettable memories with, and, of course, a city that never will stop loving him.
Malik Monk on IG pic.twitter.com/vbPnBJcVkC
— Tristi Rodriguez (@tristi_r14) February 3, 2025
He’ll now get to play close to home with Victor Wembanyama, the 7-foot-3 French phenom who is on track to become the future face of the league. Fans of the NBA should be excited about that pairing and its potential.
For eight years, Sacramento embraced its royal family, and De’Aaron, Recee and their adorable children embraced it right back. From Recee sitting courtside at just about every home game to Reign helping his dad light the beam after a win to their community work off the court, Sacramento’s first family will and should always be welcomed back with open arms.
The business is the business, all parties had to do what was best for them.
And while Malik might mean King in Arabic, there will always be a place on the throne for one special Fox.