De'Aaron Fox reacts to trade rumors after Kings' loss vs. Pistons: 'I'm not worried at all'
Thu, Jan 20, 2022
NBA News (AP)
There were conflicting reports about De'Aaron Fox's future with the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday.According to The Athletic, Kings management informed him, his agent and other teams that they do not plan to move him ahead of the trade deadline. According to the Sacramento Bee, the Kings are pursuing Indiana Pacers big man Domantas Sabonis, are willing to include Fox in those discussions and have also talked about trading him in a potential Ben Simmons deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. After Sacramento's 133-131 loss against the Detroit Pistons, Fox said he's not concerned about the rumor mill.
"(These) things are part of the business," Fox said. "Am I worried about anything? No. Do I know stuff can happen? Yeah. But I'm not worried at all. No."
The stuff that can happen is not a distraction for Fox, he said, because, "when you're on the court, you're thinking about a lot of stuff going on during the game."
Fox scored 27 points on 10-for-20 shooting, with eight assists and six rebounds against Detroit, but lamented that the Kings "didn't get any stops" down the stretch. Sacramento led by 10 points with three minutes left, and the Pistons finished the game on a 13-1 run. Asked if the roster needed a shake-up, Fox said, "I think the people that are here need to ... play better. Like I said, offensively we were fine. We need to buckle down and get stops."
The Kings are 18-29, and they have allowed 113.4 points per 100 possessions this season, the fourth-worst mark in the NBA. Fox's point-of-attack defense is a part of the problem, but not nearly all of it.
The trade deadline is less than a month away: Feb. 10 (at 3 p.m. ET). Between now and then, maybe an NBA player will say that he is completely distracted by trade rumors, can't sleep, can't focus on basketball and is not only worried about his future with the team, but terrified of starting over somewhere new. It has to happen eventually.
