‘See them smile’: With national profile on the rise, De’Aaron Fox keeps it local at camp
This has been a big summer for Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox.
He’s on television. He’s on the internet. He’s in shoe stores. He’s getting acquainted with Kings coach Luke Walton. He seems to be everywhere, flashing that familiar smile and flexing with stacks of cash as the rest of the nation begins to see what we see in Sacramento.
Soon, Fox will leave for Las Vegas to train with Team USA, but Wednesday he was at Hardwood Palace in Rocklin, holding a basketball camp for 240 local kids who were thrilled to be in his presence.
“It’s definitely been great just being able to be out here with the kids and see them smile,” Fox said. “They have a great time just from a high-five, so it’s cool to be able to put this on.”
Fox recently returned to Sacramento after holding a similar camp in his hometown of Houston. He will be in Las Vegas on Aug. 5 when Team USA holds training camp in preparation for the FIBA World Cup, which will be held Aug. 31 to Sept. 15 in China.
Fox and Kings teammate Marvin Bagley III are going to Las Vegas as members of the Select Team, which features the next generation of Team USA stars. Fox was asked Wednesday if might be invited to join Harrison Barnes on the World Cup team after James Harden, Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, Zion Williamson, Bradley Beal and others backed out. Fox alluded to discussions regarding a potential spot on the World Cup team but he would not say whether he was on the verge of a promotion.
“Got a couple calls,” Fox said, “but I’m looking forward to just being able to go out there and compete with some of the best guys in the league.”
Fox hinted at his extraordinary potential during a breakout sophomore season for the Kings in 2018-19, averaging 17.3 points, 7.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. He was chosen to participate in the Rising Stars game and finished third in Most Improved Player voting at the NBA Awards in June after helping the Kings become a surprise playoff contender.
Fox knows the Kings won’t be taken lightly in 2019-20. They won 39 games last season, their best season since they last made the playoffs in 2005-06, and were the last team eliminated from Western Conference playoff contention. Since then, they’ve added free agents Dewayne Dedmon, Cory Joseph, Trevor Ariza and Richaun Holmes to a core that includes Fox, Buddy Hield, Barnes, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica and Harry Giles III.
“I think it’s a little bit different because last year there weren’t many expectations, so we were winning games and it was surprising people,” Fox said. “Now, with the way our roster is filled out, we kind of got the things that we needed, and if we come out guns blazing the way we did last year, I don’t think it will be as surprising. Of course, the West got stronger, but we have expectations.”
Fox said he has spent much of his summer working on his body and his game, trying to improve everything from his strength and conditioning to his ball handling and shooting ability.
“At the position I play, you can’t just be good at one thing,” Fox said. “You’ve got to be able to do a lot of things. I never just go into it focusing on one thing.”
In the meantime, Fox has been growing his brand in some significant ways.
In May, he was featured in a Hulu commercial, curling dumbbells made of money. Then Nike unveiled the Air Max 1 “Swipa,” a mismatched, multicolored Fox creation that bears his nickname and reflects his colorful sense of style. The shoe’s release was accompanied by a 60-second movie trailer titled “Lightspeed,” which tells a fictional tale of how Fox, as a young boy inspired by the stars, achieved the ability to run faster than the speed of light.
In June, Fox appeared in a Head & Shoulders commercial in which a water boy’s dandruff caused a spill that left Fox all wet. Fox got drenched again on the Jimmy Kimmel Show during a segment that featured Fox and Kimmel competing in Sink It or Swim, a basketball dunk-tank competition. Fox sank his first shot to dunk Kimmel in the tank before eventually sinking himself.
Along the way, Fox is still finding time to get to know Walton and the rest of his new coaching staff in Sacramento. The Kings think Fox can achieve greatness. They want Walton to push him to do that.
“He’s been great,” Fox said. “Worked out with him a few times before we left for the summer and he’s just a great guy. He calls my phone frequently. Being able to talk to him and get to know him, and not just as a player, but as a person – they’ve definitely been great conversations.”
A busy offseason schedule has placed new demands on Fox’s time, but he said it won’t prevent him from building a rapport with Walton.
“That’s just a phone call away,” Fox said. “I don’t really think it takes away from anything I’m doing. It’s just getting to know Luke a little bit more. I kind of told him I’d be back in Sac kind of early, so I just want to be able to develop that relationship with him and that chemistry, so we can hit the ground running when training camp starts.”
This story was originally published July 25, 2019 at 5:30 AM.