Report: De’Aaron Fox agrees to five-year, max deal with Kings

Sacramento Kings PG De’Aaron Fox has agreed to a five-year, $163 million max extension, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported late Friday night. Fox, who was set to become a restricted free agent after this upcoming season, could end up earning the super max of $195.6 million, per Shams.

The Kings figure to have a busy offseason. We’ve already seen plenty of drama surrounding RFA SG Bogdan Bogdanovic. After the reports this week, it seems that Bogdanovic could see an offer sheet elsewhere, something the Kings may not be in position to match. Locking up Fox for the immediate future should ease the blow of losing Bogdanovic. The Kings also just drafted G Tyrese Haliburton with the No. 12 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and SG Buddy Hield is still around for now.

In Fox’s third NBA season, the Kentucky product took another big step forward in his development. He averaged 21.1 points and 6.8 assists over 51 games in 2019-20. Fox was a borderline All-Star and still managed to have an excellent season despite battling ankle injuries throughout the campaign. The left-hander did all this while shooting below 30 percent from 3-point range. He shot 48 percent from the floor, most of his scoring production coming from mid-range and inside the paint. If Fox can develop an outside shot, he could turn into one of the best PGs in the NBA down the road.

To me, Fox feels a whole lot like a great fantasy basketball sleeper. Chances are he’ll go in the first three rounds of so in most drafts — 12 teams or so. If you can snag him in the third or fourth round, I’d say that’s a win. Again, if Bogdanovic and Hield aren’t on the roster when the season starts, the bulk of the usage and scoring will come from Fox. He could push for 32-34 minutes per game with a usage rate well above 25 percent. If that’s the case, there’s no reason why Fox can’t average somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 PPG with around 8-10 APG. The issue is the talent surrounding him.