De’Aaron Fox and the Spurs are set to face the Knicks in the championship game of the NBA Cup. Before this matchup, Fox spoke to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears about his time on the Kings and his reflections on the trade months after the move.
“We go to the playoffs, and after that, you want to build upon that,” Fox said about his Kings tenure. “And that doesn’t mean going from the third seed to the first seed. It just means continuing to be a playoff team. I didn’t feel like we were there.”
“Everything started going bad that summer [in 2024]. I’m in a place where I want to be [now],” recalled Fox.
“I don’t really have anything to say; it is what it is. I wish [Murray] the best. Whether that is rebuilding, I want him to be in the best situation for him. The grass is greener on this side,” he said emphatically.
According to Spears, Fox is still in touch with only a limited number of people from his time on the Kings. This includes Keegan Murray and the former head coach, Mike Brown.
“We still talk. I still talk to Elijah [Brown], his son,” said Fox about being in touch with Mike Brown. “Mike is family. It’s dope to see him in New York. For one, the Knicks are already a good team. He just elevates them. They aspire to win a championship. And I feel like that is what they brought him in there to do.”
“They have the talent. They didn’t change the talent. You see that early on in their season [with their success]. He’s a championship coach,” said Fox while honestly reviewing the Spurs’ upcoming matchup with the Knicks.
In the pregame press conference, the Knicks head coach also addressed going up against two players he formerly coached: Fox and Harrison Barnes.
“First of all, I’ll tell you what, man, I’m so happy for not just Fox but Fox’s family. He’s got a fabulous wife, and I’m going to say ‘What up girl?’… I couldn’t have asked for anything better for them, because he’s a fabulous young man,” said Brown.
“Everybody sees him out there on the court, sees his speed, and how he is as a player. But if you ever get a chance to get to know him, you’d be really honored because they’re really good people.”
Brown also spoke about Harrison Barnes and how lucky he feels to have the opportunity to coach and know both these players.
“I applaud both of them for getting to this point, but I hope you both don’t win any more games while we’re here in Vegas,” said Brown hilariously.
Brown further broke down in detail what Barnes and Fox bring to the table for the Spurs tomorrow in their matchup against the Spurs. It is clear that the Kings parted ways with their key elements, as that franchise is now in a struggling position (6-20, second-worst record in the Western Conference as of now) just months after these decisions.
While the winner of tomorrow’s game might get the last laugh in this competition, it can be concluded for certain that all three of the aforementioned former Kings members [Fox, Brown, and Barnes] are in better situations since they left that franchise.
