Sacramento Kings: What Purpose Does DeAaron Fox Have Currently?
I can’t believe I felt the need to write this article. Under no circumstances should a team trade a young franchise cornerstone with a rebuilding roster. That logic doesn’t apply to the Sacramento Kings (the NBA’s court jesters). With other teams looking for that star to get them over the hump, DeAaron Fox can’t waste the prime of his career years waiting for Sacramento to get it right (if they actually do). Does a trade for Swipa need to actually happen?
Yes.
With Luke Walton’s departure, the thought was the Sacramento Kings would flirt with being a playoff team in the West. That was the belief of the seemingly overwhelming majority of causal fans living in the city. These are the same fans who jumped ship to Oakland during the Warriors run, only to go down to Southern Cal and join on the Lakers bandwagon. Let’s just call them out-of-touch fans who don’t have a grip on reality.
Ask these fans who can’t see the Kings franchise as a complete joke whether or not Fox should remain in Sacramento and you’ll probably hear them throw around the word superstar.
“You can’t deal Fox. He’s a superstar. An All-Star player we need to have here.”
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I can assure you, despite all his accolades and achievements, Fox is not that. The team isn’t winning with him. Keeping him here, that’s not going to right the beyond-broken ship. Trading Fox isn’t going to make the season any easier to win or gain any real shot at redemption this year; however, in the long run, it may.
With the uncertainty of the teams, the next move comes a decision. Does Monte McNair trade Fox and redesign his own roster with his self-appointed coach? Or continue to let the minority of clueless fans refuse to acknowledge Fox’s true impact on this roster. Regardless of the outcome, Kings fans will not all agree or understand McNair’s decision.
The majority of smart fans know the NBA is a business. You need to make hard decisions to move forward. Davion Mitchell and Tyrese Haliburton have the potential to be just as dominant as Fox. Let’s be honest, Fox isn’t selling tickets to games; winning is going to sell the tickets.
As a GM your main focus is to win basketball games for your roster. That hasn’t been the case in Sacramento for quite some time (longest playoff drought in North American sports). For all the fans who’ve jumped ship, trading away Fox will signal another rebuild. This serves as justification that becoming a Warriors or Lakers fan was the right choice. Getting even the most hardcore fans to attend games will be a challenge. You’re seemingly giving up on the next 2-3 years (once again) to hope wins come. To be honest, and sorry to those young kids who love Swipa, that’s the way of the NBA.
To those dedicated and hardcore fans, yeah it sucks, but that’s just business. For all the passionate fans in the Capital City who have suffered so greatly, they deserve a winner. Those who bleed purple and black will tell you the same thing.
“Fox is no different from DeMarcus Cousins or Isaiah Thomas.”
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These guys who seemed invincible as Kings, franchise guys whom you drafted and developed. It sucks to lose one of the fan favorites, however, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Sacramento maintained a rich history of success before names like DeAaron Fox even picked up a basketball. Fox is not, and will not, be on the level of Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Chris Weber, Jason Williams, Doug Christie. Why? Because he’s not won anything in Sacramento. You can’t justify keeping Fox to appease the small minority of fans who’d rather see meaningless basketball with the fastest player in the NBA instead of successful basketball without him. Fox is the best player on a roster lost in the abyss. He needs to be the best player on a roster that’s set up to win. That’s not going to happen in SacTown.
When it comes down to it, DeAaron Fox is going to give you the building blocks for the future. That includes players and assets that will pair well with Monte McNair’s drafted duo of Mitchell and Haliburton. Kings fans know the drill in these scenarios. It’s always a next-man-up (or in the Kings case, GM) mentality. Fox is not a McNair guy. He did sign him to an extension. However, he had to at that point. The contract Fox has is easily movable. McNair has no allegiance to Fox. He didn’t draft him, thus he doesn’t owe an explanation as to why he’s given up on him.
At some point, the team will get it right. McNair seems to have a solid game plan in place (whether or not Vivek Ranadive allows him to do execute is another story), and the idea of trading Fox has merit. Would it be nice if Fox stayed with the Sacramento Kings and won a title? Yes. With that being said, if he’s traded and Haliburton is the star player on a title team, nobody really cares that Fox isn’t on the roster. He will get a nice ovation when he returns to play at Golden 1 Center. After that, it’s business as usual.
In the end, the NBA is a business. That means decisions will need to be made for the greater good of the organization. If Fox is dealt to see that vision, so be it. It’s not like Sacramento could garner any worse attendance or attention from their fans than they do now.
Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
Daniel is a guru of baseball and basketball prospects. He’s a very experienced Amusement Park traveler as well. Follow him and his hot takes on Insta @dgentleman9288
