What did the Fox say?
Sacramento Kings star De’Aaron Fox became the first player in franchise history to score 60 points on Friday night. However, his masterpiece and herculean effort still was not enough, as the Kings suffered a 130-126 heartbreaking overtime loss to Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Fox joined New York Knicks Jalen Brunson (March 2024), Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry (February 2024), Damian Lillard as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers (November 2019) and Kemba Walker with the Charlotte Hornets (November 2018) as only the fifth point guard to score 60 points in a losing effort.
Overall, Fox became the 13th player to end up on the losing side of things with a 60-point performance. Only Wilt Chamberlain (11), Devin Booker (two) and Michael Jordan (two) have suffered multiple losses despite scoring 60 in a game.
The Kings’ previous franchise record was held by Jack Twyman, who scored 59 points for the Cincinnati Royals on January 15, 1960. Believe it or not, prior to Friday’s contest, the Kings/Royals were among the only two franchises in history, the Hawks being the other, without a 60-point game. The Hawks now stand alone on that mountain, with three players, Bob Pettit, Dominique Wilkins and Lou Hudson, scoring 57. Trae Young fell short of the milestone when he scored 56 in January 2022.
Embed from Getty ImagesDespite the Kings loss on Friday, Fox has every reason to keep his head up and be proud of his accomplishment. The team was without two key veteran players, DeMar DeRozan (back) and Malik Monk (ankle), and forced overtime against the up-and-coming Timberwolves.
After the game, Fox revealed that his teammates encouraged him to go for the franchise record. The athletic guard, who can shoot it from anywhere, had only 21 points at the half when the Kings were trailing by eight. That deficit was extended to 20 in the third until Fox went off like a firecracker to ignite a 14-0 run to make a turnaround possible.
“I wanted this game to end in the fourth quarter, so I don’t even want to have the opportunity to [get 60 points], but my teammates wanted me to keep going, obviously,” Fox said according to ESPN.
The 7-6 Kings will next host the Utah Jazz on Saturday, the second night of a back-to-back. While it is still early in the season, the Kings are in a tight race with several teams for the 7-10 play-in seeds in the conference.
