Talent alone can’t make someone a superstar athlete in the NBA. Even though their talent is what gets them into the discussion, several other external factors dictate the rest of the journey. According to Gilbert Arenas, De’Aaron Fox is dealing with one such external factor currently with the Sacramento Kings. He believes that Fox is in the wrong city with the level of talent he has.
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Arenas unpacked the topic on Gil’s Arena following Fox’s back-to-back explosive performances that totalled to 109 points. The three-time All-Star believes that Fox’s talent is being downplayed by the city that he’s in.
If he played for any of the big markets in the league, his name would be everywhere. However, now he’s not receiving the same promotion. Arenas insinuated that this is because Sacramento can’t afford a supermax contract for Fox and they have a vested interest in keeping the player out of All-NBA teams, which may skyrocket his stock prices.
Arenas said, “You are a supermax talent, but I [the franchise] can’t afford it. I would love to keep you, but I can’t afford that. If I want to be successful and keep moving forward and build the city around you, I can’t afford signing you to that deal. Even though that’s who you are, we’re not the city to do it.”
De’Aaron Fox is a supermax talent just in the wrong city 🚨 pic.twitter.com/QsCjDNE6rc
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) November 23, 2024
The 42-year-old pointed out that the shifty guard has the ideal game to promote to the youth. But still he has seen limited commercial appeal, which is an injustice to his level of talent.
The three-time All-Star used the Celtics, who have given two supermax contracts worth over $300 million each to Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, as an example.
Fox dropped 60 in the game against the Timberwolves and followed it up with a 49-point performance against the Jazz. In this season so far, he is averaging 28.8 points per game with 5.1 rebounds, and 5.8 assists. These numbers would’ve made so much more noise if Swipa played for any of the major franchises.
While Fox has earned all the praise coming his way, can he be successful on and off the court? The 26-year-old has almost 2 million followers combined on Instagram and X. He carries himself well and plays the game the way fans like to see it in the modern-day NBA.
Fox recently revealed his first signature shoe with Curry Brand on Instagram, the official drop will be on December 6th. So, he is making moves while staying in a small city. However, the scale of it would’ve been much bigger if he played for the franchises that Arenas mentioned.
