The Sacramento Kings have agreed to the first max contract of the 2020 NBA free-agent signing period, coming to terms with starting point guard and leading scorer De’Aaron Fox on a five-year, $163 million extension, multiple outlets reported Friday.
Incentives could lift the contract figure even higher, with reported escalators based on All-NBA team status that could raise the deal as high as $196 million if it vests. Per the reports, Fox, 22, would earn the “supermax” figure if he is selected to the All-NBA first team. He would make $183 million for earning second-team honors and $170 for making the third team.
Fox topped the Kings in scoring last season at 21.1 points per game as well as assists (6.8) and steals per game (1.5). The lightning-quick guard has improved his scoring and assist averages in each season and will now enter his fourth campaign as the team’s undisputed focal point.
Originally selected with the fifth overall pick by the Kings in the 2017 NBA Draft out of Kentucky, the left-handed Fox has also improved his shooting in each NBA season. He shot just 41.2 percent from the field as a rookie in 2017-18 while averaging 11.6 points, but knocked down a career-best 48.0 percent of his field-goal attempts in 51 games (49 starts) during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season.
In his three seasons as a pro, Fox has averaged 16.2 points, 6.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game in 205 games (190 starts).
–Field Level Media
