‘Godawful’: De’Aaron Fox goes off on officials after Kings’ loss to Jazz
Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said he expects the NBA to fine him for criticizing officials following a 128-112 loss to the Utah Jazz on Saturday night at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.
Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell stepped in front of Fox as he jawed at officials when the game ended, but Fox was not done voicing his displeasure. He continued to vent during a postgame news conference when asked to describe his frustration with the officiating after he was awarded six free throws while Mitchell went to the line 17 times.
“S--- was godawful,” Fox said. “Mine wasn’t even about me getting there and things like that. It was about the calls they were getting on the other end. If you’re going to call something on one end, call it on the other end.
“And if somebody’s trying to talk to you, you can’t get in your feelings so quick to where it’s not even a hostile conversation and then you’re saying don’t talk to you. … I mean, you’re coming down guessing on plays where a ball goes out of bounds and they ask you. You don’t know what the f--- is going on and you just call something. At least go look at the monitor or something.”
Fox said one official was particularly unapproachable.
“F---ing terrible,” Fox said. “He was terrible and then when you tried to talk to him, he acted like he didn’t want to hear anything or he was too good.”
Mitchell said he was trying to prevent Fox from getting fined when he intervened after the game.
“He was talking to the ref, but the game was over and Fox has been a friend of mine since high school,” Mitchell said. “There’s no reason to lose money over a situation like that. The game’s over, the competition’s over, so now that’s my guy. I’m going to make sure he doesn’t lose money in that situation.”
Fox appreciated the thought from Mitchell, but he was still anticipating a fine.
“The way the NBA works, I’m probably going to get fined anyways for talking to a ref and that is what it is,” Fox said. “But Don and I are cool off the court, obviously, and between the lines we’re competitors going after each other, but, yeah, it’s definitely great to have somebody like that. It’s always great when I’m able to play against someone I’ve known since high school and see how well he’s doing and what he’s doing for his team. As soon as the game is over, the competition is over and we’re back to being boys.”
Kings coach Luke Walton shared Fox’s frustration with the officiating. Utah went to the free-throw line 35 times. The Kings only attempted 22 free throws despite having a 48-42 advantage in points in the paint.
“That’s part of the frustration,” Walton said. “De’Aaron Fox is playing the same way, right? It’s not like Donovan is just attacking the rim. He shot 12 3s, right? So he’s shooting a lot of jump shots, too. As a team, they shot 50 3s and got 35 free throws, and we got 22 free throws. And if you tell me that Donovan attacks the rim any harder than De’Aaron Fox, I will strongly disagree with you.”
This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
