Early in the season, the Sacramento Kings have shown more signs of life than they have since trading away DeMarcus Cousins, and if you ask some people they would say you’d have to go even further back. The Kings are a young team with a nice core, and they are without their first round pick this season so there is no reason for them to tank. However, simply starting off 3-3 is not really the good news for the Kings.

The Kings sport one of several “promising young cores” in the NBA. 11 of the 13 players who have seen the floor this season for the Kings are 25 or under. Marvin Bagley, Harry Giles, and De’Aaron Fox are 19, 20, and 21 respectively. Scal Labissiere may still become something, Buddy Hield and Willie Cauley-Stein are not so young anymore but both (especially Hield) have become nice players. Bogdan Bogdanovic is old for a second year player but he also had a promising rookie season last year, and the Kings eagerly await his season debut.

The problem however, is that, despite obviously having some nice pieces on the roster, it was not yet clear that the Kings had a truly foundational star on the roster. No matter how many nice young players you may acquire, just ask the Magic how it turns out without that super-star type.

That is where the real best news for the Kings is. It is obviously too early to proclaim Fox the savior of the franchise, but the early results are great and show that the Kings may have finally nailed a lottery pick.





The Basics:

To start with, just look at Fox’s per game numbers: 17.7 points, 7 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 32.5 minutes per game. And his efficiency on those numbers are solid as well, his 17.7 points are scored with a true shooting percentage of 54.4% and those 7 assists are against just 2.7 turnovers per game.

The only downside to his start is that his long-ball is still very poor, having hit just 20% (3/15) from deep in the early going of the season.

Beyond his simple box-score, the Kings have been a completely different team when Fox is on the floor. Per 100 possessions, the Kings score 115.4 points and allow 105.4 (+10 overall) and when he is off the floor they score 89.4 and allow 119.8 (-30.5), which for those not keeping track, is a swing of 40.5(!!!) points per 100 possessions. Overall, when Fox is on the floor the Kings are +41, and when he’s off they are -61.

Once again, those numbers will get less drastic as the season goes on, but Fox looks like he has really made an improvement to being the real deal.





One of the biggest improvements to Fox’s game was not even an improvement he himself made, but rather a change by head coach Dave Joerger. After spending last season plodding along at the literal slowest pace in the entire NBA, the Kings have come out and played at a super-charged speed that currently puts them 3rd in the NBA in pace.





This has had a hugely positive impact on Fox, who was built to get out in transition. His combination of end to end speed and explosive leaping were always one of his biggest strengths as a prospect, pushing in transition also helps to mitigate his shooting deficiencies.

Once again, the biggest thing that stands out about Fox on the floor is his sheer speed with the ball in his hands. He is the type of fast where he can get the ball and create a fast-break out of nothing by simply out-running everyone.