Report: De’Aaron Fox Has Been Less Engaged Than Usual This Season

January 31, 2025

According to NBA insiders Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps of ESPN, Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox has been less engaged than usual this season.

Fox did not sign an extension with the Kings in the offseason. All signs point toward the Kentucky product getting traded soon.

“Fox did not sign an extension in the offseason and has been less engaged than usual during the season, sources said,” Windhorst wrote. “Matters were worse when coach Mike Brown was fired, which put undeserved blame on Fox and only increased the displeasure.”

Fox hasn’t requested a trade from the Kings, but he prefers to get traded to the San Antonio Spurs.

One of the best players in the NBA, Fox is averaging 25.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.2 assists this season while shooting 46.8% from the field, 32.1% from beyond the arc and 82.9% from the free-throw line. He’s making $34.8 million.

“Bottom line here is the Kings seem to know Fox isn’t going to re-sign with them,” a league executive told ESPN. “That’s clarifying, and now they can be a first mover and do it at a time when they can get the best deal. This is how Utah played things with Donovan Mitchell a few years ago. They got out ahead of it and generated a bidding war.”

Fox has career averages of 21.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists. He was the fifth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

“For one, I’m in no rush,” Fox said in October about why he didn’t sign an extension. “For two, I just want to make sure where we’re at, because people have seen the league — like, turnover of a team can happen in the matter of a month or two or six months. I mean, if we were contending for a championship, (it might be different). Like, obviously, (the Boston Celtics’) Jayson (Tatum) just won a championship or (the Miami Heat’s) Bam (Adebayo), who has been to the finals twice. I’m just using people who are in my class (who have signed extensions). They’ve already kind of been through that, done that. So yeah, they have that security of (having done) that. For me, obviously, we’re continuing to build.”