Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox wins another Western Conference Player of the Week award
Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox was named NBA Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday after leading his team to four consecutive victories.
Fox scored 30 or more points in all four games from March 22-27 to help surging Sacramento beat the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice), Atlanta Hawks and Golden State Warriors. For the week, Fox averaged 36.8 points per game while shooting 64% from the field, 37.5% from 3-point range and 82.8% at the free-throw line.
The Kings (21-25) have won six of their last seven and eight of 12 to move up to 11th in the Western Conference. They were one game behind the Warriors for the final play-in spot going into Monday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs (23-20).
Fox, who came out of Kentucky as the No. 5 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, is the first Kings player to win multiple Player of the Week awards in a season since DeMarcus Cousins in 2015-16. Fox was also named Player of the Week on Feb. 8 after leading the Kings to an earlier four-game winning streak. That stretch included a 38-point game against the New Orleans Pelicans and a 36-point game against the Los Angeles Clippers, but lately he has been even better.
Fox had 30 points, six assists and six rebounds in a 119-105 victory over the Cavaliers on March 22. He followed that with a 37-point performance in a 110-108 win over the Hawks on Wednesday. He had a career-high 44 points on 16-of-22 shooting in a 141-119 victory over the Warriors on Thursday. He scored 36 points and fired a perfect strike to Harrison Barnes for the game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in a 100-98 victory over the Cavaliers on Saturday.
Charlotte Hornets guard Terry Rozier was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 24.3 points, 5.5 assists and 5.3 rebounds.
Other nominees in the Western Conference were Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz and Zion Williamson of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Fox will also receive strong consideration for Western Conference Player of the Month. He will have stiff competition from Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks, Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, Jokic, Mitchell and Williamson. Fox is averaging 30.5 points, 6.9 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 steals in March, ranking second in the NBA in scoring behind Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving, who is averaging 30.6 points per game.
This story was originally published March 29, 2021 at 1:02 PM.
