Kings’ De’Aaron Fox set to play against the New York Knicks after spraining thumb

Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox is set to play Saturday night against the New York Knicks after landing on the injury report with a sprained right thumb.

Fox participated at the Kings’ shootaround in Manhattan on Saturday morning while wearing a sleeve on the injured thumb. He said he plans on playing in the second game of the team’s six-game road trip. Fox was officially listed as questionable.

Fox said Thursday night that Nuggets center Nikola Jokic hit Fox’s hand twice during Sacramento’s 132-123 loss in Denver. Fox scored 17 points while going 7-of-24 from the floor including 3-of-10 from 3-point range.

Fox returned from a three-game absence due to a glute contusion Jan. 12 and scored 26 and 20 points in his first two games back against the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.

But he hasn’t eclipsed 20 points in four games since then, while shooting just 30% from the field and 23% from distance. Fox has dealt with an injury to his pinkie on his left shooting hand that happened in training camp. He still can’t extend the finger and tapes it to his ring finger every game. Fox said this week that injury might require a procedure in the upcoming offseason.

Fox has missed three of Sacramento’s 41 games this season.

Chris Biderman

The Sacramento Bee

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Chris Biderman covers sports and local news for the Sacramento Bee since joining in August 2018 to cover the San Francisco 49ers. He previously spent time with the Associated Press and USA Today Sports Media Group, and has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Athletic and on MLB.com. He is a current member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and former member of the Pro Football Writers of America. The Santa Rosa native graduated with a degree in journalism from the Ohio State University.