In addition to being already difficult to live with, sports curses have this nasty defect of constantly coming up in discussions. The city of Cleveland has long awaited a title in a major sport, before that of the Cavaliers in 2016, the French have not won Roland-Garros since 1983 and Yannick Noah, and the Kings have not played in the playoffs since 2006…
Sixteen years without tasting the joys of the playoffs is a record of mediocrity in the history of the NBA. Each spring, the figure swells and like his teammates, De’Aaron Fox finally wants to end this food shortage in 2023.
“When I was drafted, I knew there was a risk that I would not make the playoffs my first years”he remembers for The Athletic. “But I try to leave that behind me. Clearly, it’s something that pisses me off. We have a new team, a new coach, so it’s a new start for me. I’m going to be 25, I’m not old and I haven’t reached my best years yet. »
They could even start this season since De’Aaron Fox had a remarkable summer, on all counts. Staff already. “I feel like it was my best summer. The planets are aligned, in my life as in basketball. I have never felt so good humanly and as a player. I got married, I had a wonderful honeymoon. »
“The structure that we lacked was welcome”
Then on the technical level, with a significant weight loss in his eyes. In the summer of 2021, the Sacramento star had taken 7 kilos of muscles which finally became cannonballs for this player who was so fast and explosive. He is therefore down to 83 kilos.
“I think that extra weight hurt me, that’s for sure. I had never been so heavy and it was different. The numbers show I’m at my best at a certain weight, and at 90 kilos I wasn’t playing well. Now I want to stay with this line during the season. I have never felt so good, in terms of my physical condition. »
Last important detail: the arrival of Mike Brown on the bench. With his CV, in Cleveland as a main coach or in Golden State as Steve Kerr’s assistant, the coach has the profile to bring the Kings back to the playoffs according to De’Aaron Fox.
“The structure that we lacked was welcome. We do long training sessions and it’s all about the details. If there’s something wrong, Brown says so and we get back to business. During my first five years, we lacked that I think. »
| De’Aaron Fox | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2017-18 | BAG | 73 | 28 | 41.2 | 30.7 | 72.3 | 0.5 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 11.6 |
| 2018-19 | BAG | 81 | 31 | 45.8 | 37.1 | 72.7 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 7.3 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 17.3 |
| 2019-20 | BAG | 51 | 32 | 48.0 | 29.2 | 70.5 | 0.7 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 6.8 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 3.1 | 0.5 | 21.1 |
| 2020-21 | BAG | 58 | 35 | 47.7 | 32.2 | 71.9 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 7.2 | 2.9 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 25.2 |
| 2021-22 | BAG | 59 | 35 | 47.3 | 29.7 | 75.0 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 5.6 | 2.9 | 1.2 | 2.9 | 0.4 | 23.2 |
| 2022-23 | BAG | 1 | 35 | 57.1 | 55.6 | 80.0 | 0.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 33.0 |
| Total | 323 | 32 | 46.2 | 32.1 | 72.5 | 0.5 | 3.0 | 3.5 | 6.2 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 0.4 | 19.1 | |
