De’Aaron Fox to Miss Time After Fighting Through Sprain in Kings’ Win: ‘He’s a Warrior’

Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox lit up the Lakers for 37 points in an overtime win Sunday, but it may be his last in-game act for a little while.

Per Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic, Fox suffered a right ankle sprain in the victory, and is likely to miss some time.

Fox and the Kings’ starting unit played more minutes together than any other starting unit in the entire NBA, and Fox is a top-10 point guard — maybe top five. So, yeah, this is a bit of a blow to the defending Pacific Division champions.

Not surprisingly, he played through the sprain for a bit to help the Kings get the game to overtime — though the pain clearly became too much to bear.

“(Fox) is tough as nails, man,” coach Mike Brown said after the win, via Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. “To try to show the grit that he showed and get out there to help us win a ballgame, that just speaks volumes to who he is and how much he wants to lay his body on the line to help his team.”

 Shooting guard Kevin Huerter added it was an inspiring performance from Fox.

“Fox is our closer,” Huerter said. “You guys saw him try to battle through it. He didn’t want to come off the court. He wasn’t supposed to start the overtime and he just kind of walked out there and told the coaches he was going to play. He’s a warrior.”