De’Aaron Fox has proven in recent days why he is considered the face of the Sacramento Kings. In a back-to-back of the extra class, he first scored 60 and then 49 points – a new franchise record for the Kings. This joins Fox to NBA legends like Wilt Chamberlain and Kobe Bryant.
In Friday’s game against the Timberwolves, Fox already made the basketball world sit up and take notice: with 60 points, he scored the most points of any Sacramento Kings player since the franchise relocated to California in 1985. But that wasn’t all. A day later, he added another 49 points against the Utah Jazz, putting in another outstanding performance.
“I was a little tired when I went into the game today,” Fox honestly admitted after the win against the Jazz. ‘But when the game started, I felt good. I’m not so exhausted that I can’t play, but I can’t say that this back-to-back has been any less demanding than others.’ Fox was almost unstoppable in both games: He scored 22 of 35 shots, including six three-pointers, against the Timberwolves. Against the Jazz, he was once again efficient with 16 of 30 shots from the field – only three of which were three-point shots. He made 14 of his 19 attempts from the free-throw line that night.
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With his 109 points over two days, Fox joins an exclusive list. Alongside Wilt Chamberlain, who broke this barrier 17 times in his career, and Kobe Bryant (110 points in 2007), Fox is only the third player in NBA history to achieve such a scoring feat.
Kings coach Mike Brown was impressed: “Wow,” he said when he heard the statistics. “The back-to-back, the overtime game and a total of 75 minutes of action yesterday… and then such a performance today, without three of our best players. This shows why he is our leader. Wilt, Kobe, Foxy – that’s a pretty good company.” The Kings were without Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan and Malik Monk due to injury.
One scorer at every level
Fox himself sees the reason for his success in his aggressive style of play: “The ability to drive to the basket and attack the zone has worked wonders,” he explained. “When you can do that, you have three options: go to the basket, draw free throws or create for your teammates. I try to focus on exactly that.”
This versatility is what makes Fox so special: not only does he score from outside, but he also dominates in the paint and regularly draws free throws. Against the Timberwolves, he went to the line ten times as a result of his aggressive play, and against the Jazz, he went 19 times.