Kings’ De’Aaron Fox says mentality, offseason work made him NBA Clutch Player of the Year

Long before his leading role in ending the longest playoff drought in NBA history, or going up 2-0 on the defending champion Golden State Warriors, Kings All-Star De’Aaron Fox’s work towards winning the league’s first ever Jerry West Award began last summer in empty gyms in San Diego, and even during his honeymoon with his wife, Recee, in the Maldives and Italy.

The newlyweds even cut their romantic trip short so Fox could resume his normal training regimen to gear up for Sacramento’s turnaround season.

It has all paid off. Fox was a runaway winner for the award announced Tuesday, which is given to the league’s most clutch player. He finished with 91 of 100 possible first-place votes.

Fox upon winning the award went on TNT’s nationally televised broadcast Tuesday to discuss not being afraid to fail, an idea he expounded on after practice Wednesday in Sacramento.

“I think it’s more so a mentality than anything you work on,” Fox said. “Everybody wants to be in position to hit the game winner, but when that times comes, if you’re really ready, it’ll show. You can’t be afraid to fail, because if I miss, I’m fine with it because I know if the opportunity presents itself again, I’m going to have a chance to make it.”

Fox, 25, made the All-Star team for the first time this season and is having unquestionably the best year of his career. His 51.2% field-goal rate is a career high, while he stood out from the pack with 194 points in clutch situations, while shooting 53%. Bulls star DeMar DeRozan was second with 159 clutch points, but finished third in voting. Miami’s Jimmy Butler had 151 and finished second for the award.

Fox’s clutch play is a trend that’s continued through two games in the playoffs. He scored 38 and 24 points, respectively, in his first two postseason games, adding 14 assists and seven steals against Golden State. As of Wednesday afternoon, his 13 clutch points were more than any other player in the first round of the postseason.

Beyond the court, Kings head coach Mike Brown was happy for Fox and the support he’s received from his wife and family.

“I’m excited for him, for Recee, for baby Reign, because you talk about a beautiful family of beautiful people, and it’s very much deserving for that to happen,” Brown said. “Especially knowing the work that he put in.”

Much of that work came with Kings assistant Luke Loucks, who joined Brown’s staff in Sacramento after working with him on the Warriors’ staff from 2016 as a paid intern to 2019 as a player development coach. The two got to work soon after Brown was hired and put his staff together late last spring.

“Luke’s been working with (Fox) from day one,” Brown said. “Luke basically moved to San Diego with them. Even though Luke’s older, Luke turned into the adopted child, living down there with them. They’ve just been phenomenal with their approach and it all starts and ends with Foxy and his commitment to trying to be better.”

During the workouts in empty gyms, Brown said Loucks would put Fox in different scenarios which helped prepare him for clutch moments in NBA games, which included having others help out and play defense.

“’You go double-team him and you do this during a double-team or you do this when you get by the initial defender, and you figure out how to react in different situations,’” Brown said. “So that creativity that Luke helped bring to the table helped get him ready. Also, what Foxy has experienced his whole life, being that guy, has helped him be able to have some success in critical moments.”

Fox’s teammates and Kings fans have been longing for the team to get more national attention during its historic playoff run as the No. 3 seed after onlookers had far lower expectations coming into the season. The discussion outside of the team’s downtown headquarters often defined a successful season as making the play-in tournament and potentially advancing beyond that.

The Kings have far surpassed that expectation and find themselves in control of their first-round playoff series with a 2-0 lead against Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and the four-time champion Warriors.

And Fox has been among the biggest reasons.

“He’s been the the guy bringing us through in the clutch,” Harrison Barnes said. “So I think for him to get national recognition just speaks volumes to the work that he’s put in, and how well our team is doing, and more attention to Sacramento, so I think that’s great.”