One of the most beloved players of the John Calipari era is no doubt De’Aaron Fox, who was a star in his one year playing for the Kentucky Wildcats.
Fox will always tell you how much he loved his time in Lexington and playing for coach Cal which catapulted him into being a top-5 NBA Draft pick in 2017.
Fox recently signed a five-year, $163 million max extension with the Sacramento Kings and is one of the top up-and-coming guards in the league.
The former Cat recently made an appearance on ALL THE SMOKE with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson where he talked about his time in Lexington.
Fox knew he would be a star as a freshman and knew that going to Kentucky was the best option for him and his career. He also knew he’d be able to come in at Kentucky and play a ton of minutes, show off his skills, and help the team win a lot of games. The rest of the schools on his final list couldn’t offer that.
Fox also revealed that his mom wasn’t letting him go to Louisville.
“(Being a one-and-done) was the main reason. But second reason, it was just the place I knew I wanted to play. Louisville had just gotten in trouble for the stripper s***, so my mom was like, ‘You’re not going there.’”
“Kentucky was the only real choice,” Fox added. “Kentucky was the place I knew I was going to start, knew I was going to play.”
Like I previously mentioned, Fox loved his time in Lexington and is still grateful for it today.
“Man, it was great. I love Cal. I still talk to Cal to this day. He lets you rock,” Fox said. “That’s why he wants guards like John [Wall] and myself and [Brandon] Knight, Tyler Ulis. The way that he coaches, it’s like absolute freedom. He’ll put x’s and o’s but at the end of the day, everything’s going to end up in a pick and roll or isolation. That’s what the NBA is too.”
Fox also stressed that Cal doesn’t necessarily focus on wins and losses but instead getting the right players.
“When he’s able to get those guys, you find success,” Fox said. “Cal couldn’t give a damn about winning college basketball games. If he’s getting guys who he knows he can end up developing into NBA players, you’re automatically going to win 30 games a year just from that alone. That’s what I loved.”
“You came in, you had to earn everything. He made you work. At the end of the day, I was a top-five pick, Bam (Adebayo) and Malik (Monk) were lottery picks. That’s all you can ask for. We lost in the Elite Eight, obviously we were mad as hell, but that wasn’t going to make me stay.”
So far in Fox’s fourth NBA season, he is averaging 19.2 points, 5.4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1.4 steals while shooting 44% from the field.
You can check out Fox’s complete appearance on ALL THE SMOKE below:
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