Dillon Brooks and the Houston Rockets unleashed the beast within De'Aaron Fox on Tuesday night, and the NBA world -- including his Kings coach Mike Brown -- wants to see more of it.
Now Brown is challenging Fox to unlock that fire on his own.
"I love it. But I'm going to challenge you, De'Aaron Fox. You got to figure out how to get to that level without having somebody piss you off," Brown told reporters after practice Wednesday (h/t Sactown Sports' Brenden Nunes). "Because you're a great player, and great players get to that level on their own, whether it's finding somebody to piss them off or finding something else.
"Maybe there's a 5-year-old kid who has an opposing player's jersey on and not yours -- that should piss you off."
Mike Brown’s message to De’Aaron Fox:
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) December 4, 2024
“You’ve got to figure out how to get to that level without having somebody piss you off because you’re a great player and great players get to that level on their own.”
“Maybe there’s a five year old kid that has an opponents jersey on and… pic.twitter.com/93YfRRo77h
It wasn't a 5-year-old who triggered Fox during Sacramento's thrilling 120-111 victory over Houston earlier this week, but rather a second-quarter skirmish with Brooks and Jabari Smith Jr.
Brooks was up to his usual gimmicks, first trying to annoy Kings star center Domantas Sabonis but failed. Fox and fellow Kings guard Malik Monk stepped in, though, and exchanged words with the pair of Rockets before all players had to be separated and directed to their respective benches.
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The scuffle resulted in technical fouls assessed to Monk, Smith Jr. and Brooks.
After the game, Fox shared several cryptic messages about whether the incident -- and others like it -- ignite something within him.
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“You say something to me, come along for the ride,” Fox said.
In Tuesday's win, Fox finished with 22 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from 3-point range, adding six rebounds, seven assists, three steals and one block. He was a plus-17 in plus/minus rating in 37 minutes. After the first-half altercation, the Kings went on an 11-1 run to close the quarter, which Fox contributed eight of those 11 points.
It's well noted across the NBA, or at least it should be, that you don't want to piss off Fox if you're an opposing player. Monk even joked postgame Tuesday that more teams should trash-talk Fox so he can go off.
Brown added that there are a few tricks he and the team can do to help Fox get to level, but he prefers the star point guard find a way to do so on his own.
"There's some things we can try to do and we're going to continue to do it," Brown said. "But as a great player, you got to take that upon yourself. You got to figure that out."
The Kings open a back-to-back set against the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night and the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night. We'll have to wait and see if Fox accepts Brown's challenge.
