NBA
De’Aaron Fox Joins Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain In Exclusive NBA Club
Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox has only been named to one All-Star game in his now 8-year NBA career. But it will be difficult to keep him out of the running this year, especially if he continues to play how he has over the past couple of games.
The Kings played a back-to-back over the weekend, with both games being played at home. And while they split the contests against the Timberwolves and Jazz and came out with a 1-1 record, the story in both was Fox’s unreal performances.
Fox Scores 109 Points In Two Days, Joins Exclusive NBA Club
On Friday, he had 21 points at halftime as his Kings struggled against Minnesota. But thanks to his 39 points during the second half and into overtime, Sacramento was able to erase what was a 20-point deficit in their first NBA Cup game of the season.
It felt like Fox was unstoppable down the stretch, setting a Kings’ franchise record by scoring 60 total points on 22 of 35 shooting, including 6 of 10 from long range. He added seven assists as well, and last year’s leader in steals added three in that category as well. It was the first time that a player wearing a Sacramento jersey scored 50+ since DeMarcus Cousins in 2016.
De’Aaron Fox’s last two games 🦊 ⤵️:
👑 109 PTS
👑 16 AST
👑 58% FG🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/BXIInYHwhW
— Sacramento Kings (@SacramentoKings) November 17, 2024
Unfortunately for Fox, the opposing Timberwolves had a well-balanced scoring attack against the Kings, and Sacramento wound up “wasting” a stellar performance from their point guard in a loss.
After playing 44 tough minutes, no one would have faulted De’Aaron Fox for being out of gas the next night against the Jazz.
Only Kobe, Wilt Have Reached The Milestone
He was anything but. Fox picked up right where he left off, making his first 7 shots in the first quarter against Utah. He had 18 points in the opening frame, and had 26 by halftime. It proved to be yet another intense game down the stretch, but the Kings had some of their role players step up and give Fox some much-needed help. The star guard finished with 49 points in the game.
His performance against the Jazz brought his total to 109 points, all coming within a span of about 24 hours. In doing so, Fox joined an exclusive NBA club that only had two members before this weekend. Only Kobe Bryant and Wilt Chamberlain had scored 109 or more points over a span of two consecutive days. Bryant did it in 2007. Chamberlain did it 15 different times.
Fox will look to continue his hot streak when the Kings play again on Monday. But he’ll need some help if Sacramento hopes to continue picking up wins, and the injury report has been rough as of late. Malik Monk has been out since last week with an ankle injury, and DeMar DeRozan was sidelined with a back issue for both of the weekend’s games. On Saturday, star center Domantas Sabonis joined them on the bench with a back problem of his own.