De’Aaron Fox’s ‘Letter to Sacramento’ delivers heartfelt message to Kings fans
Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox may have forever endeared himself to the city of Sacramento and the team’s fans with a personal video posted to The Players’ Tribune website on the eve of Wednesday’s season opener against the Utah Jazz.
The Players’ Tribune, founded in 2014 by former New York Yankees’ star Derek Jeter, describes itself as a new media company that provides athletes with a platform to connect directly with their fans, in their own words. The website’s content includes videos, podcasts and written pieces.
Fox’s two-minute video is entitled “A Letter to Sacramento.” It includes footage of Fox, the Golden 1 Center and various locations around Sacramento. The video features some heartfelt words to Kings’ fans from Fox, who touches on the city’s identity, its battle to save the team from relocation and the players’ desire to reward them for their loyalty.
“I heard a joke that went like this: The best part of Sacramento is you’re only two hours away from the good parts of California,” Fox said as the video began. “Nah, let me flip that. The good thing about California is you’re only a couple hours away from the best fan base in the league.”
The video cuts to a close-up of Fox, sitting in a dimly lit room.
“What’s up, Sacramento?” he said. “Entering my second year, I’ve lived here for a year now. And over the summer, I got to thinking, and I wrote a few things down. I didn’t know much about Sacramento before I got here. It might be what you think right now – farm town, quiet, nothing to do. Then I got here. I played here. I lived here. Then I started hearing a different story.”
Fox then delves into the failed efforts to move the Kings to another city. The Maloof family, which owned the team from 1998 to 2013, considered moving the team to Anaheim in 2011. Then, in 2013, the Maloofs nearly sold the Kings to a group that intended to move the team to Seattle.
The thought of the team leaving Sacramento prompted Fox to use language that is censored in the video.
“It was looking like the end for the Kings in Sacramento,” Fox said. “… Then something crazy happened. The people of Sacramento straight up came together and said, ‘Nah, f--- that. Not without a fight.’”
“Fans packed the City Council meeting. Over 11,000 people pledged to buy season tickets. They just made noise. They stood up. And, yo, they saved the team. They saved the Kings.”
The video ends with a pledge from Fox, who vows to “fight” for fans who have not seen their team make the playoffs since 2006.
“Sacramento, you don’t ask for much, just that we’re all in like you are,” Fox said. “I don’t want to make any promises I can’t keep, but I’ll promise this. You fought for us, for this team, this franchise and this city, and that’s why we’ll fight for you.”