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De'Aaron Fox Admits Season Struggles: 'We Could've Been a Better Team'
Sacramento's star point guard sounded off on this season's shortcomings.
Many NBA fans, especially those in Sacramento, would admit the Sacramento Kings fell short of expectations this season. After a historic 2022-23 season led them to 48 wins and the third seed in the Western Conference, One year later, the Kings finished with just two fewer wins, but dropped to ninth place and missed the playoffs.
The Kings were led by the All-Star snub duo of De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, who both proved to be toward the top of the league in their respective positions. While their final standing will not show it, Sacramento put together a respectable season but was ultimately overshadowed by a historically elite Western Conference.
In his end-of-season press conference with Sacramento media, Fox admitted how different the Kings' season would have been if they did not make so many simple mistakes (via @MattGeorgeSAC | X):
"I don't think we were bad this year, but obviously the West got tougher and I don't think we stepped up to that plate." Fox continued, "Obviously, we can look at countless games where we had the lead or games we should've won, and you look back at that and it definitely bit us in the back."
Fox continued to emphasize how he feels the Kings had a better season than their record shows, and their shortcomings cost them a spot in the playoffs:
"I think we were in positions to have a better record. 46 wins is not bad, but at the end of the day... We could have had 51 wins or 52 wins and you're sitting in a different spot, but at the end of the day, we didn't. We know that we could've been a better team this year and we let some games slip away."
Fox averaged a career-high 26.6 points per game and a league-high 2.0 steals per game, as many feel Fox did all he could to help the team this season. In a normal season, 46 wins is enough for a playoff spot, but Fox and the Kings know they did not do enough to earn that spot in a stacked conference this year.
With a busy off-season likely ahead of them, the Kings' expectations will be heightened entering a 2024-25 season that must see success.
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