De'Aaron Fox isn't letting a tough Game 4 finish get in his head: 'Can't change it now.'

De’Aaron Fox has been at the center of much criticism for his late-game layup attempt in the San Antonio Spurs’ Game 4 loss to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. But he’s not letting that negative attention get into his head.

Fox — and the entire Spurs team, really — had a poor second-half performance on Wednesday night in Madison Square Garden. He logged five points (2-8 FG), one assist, and four turnovers after the intermission as San Antonio blew a 27-point halftime lead, the largest in Finals history.

With the Spurs leading 106-105 and under 15 seconds left, Fox had a fastbreak opportunity with no one between him and the rim. Instead of pulling the ball out to the perimeter, getting fouled, and knocking down a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game, he went up for a layup, which was blocked by a sprinting OG Anunoby.

We all know what happened next. Jalen Brunson’s missed three-pointer landed perfectly into the fingertips of Anunoby — sprinting once again — who gracefully tapped in the game-winning bucket, giving the Knicks a commanding 3-1 series lead. Immediately, Fox was the subject of the historic defeat. Charles Barkley quickly called it a “dumbass play” on ESPN. Talk show headlines led with Fox’s blunder the following morning.

Victor Wembanyama made plenty of mistakes in the second half as well for San Antonio, and the Spurs couldn’t throw a rock into the ocean while standing on the shore, but Fox’s miscue was the loudest of everything that went wrong in the second half for the road team. Moving forward, he has no other option but to ignore the noise and grow from what happened.

“It’s not like people have my phone number and can call me,” Fox said during his pre-Game 5 press conference on Friday. “I don’t watch those shows. It doesn’t matter. It is what it is. Can’t change it now…

“It is what it is. We’re trying to move on from that, continue to learn from the mistakes we made and how we lost the lead and how we finished the game poorly. We think about the next game.”

De'Aaron Fox on facing criticism after Game 4:

"It's not like people have my phone number and can call me. I don't watch those shows. It doesn't matter."pic.twitter.com/85K8jY8jk6

— Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) June 12, 2026

Fox is playing in just his second-ever NBA Playoffs. His only experience before this year was a seven-game series defeat to the Golden State Warriors in 2023, when he was with the Sacramento Kings. The former Kentucky guard was great in his playoff debut: 27.4 points, 7.7 assists, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.1 steals per outing. But he wanted more, and that was in part why he asked out of Sacramento.

San Antonio was the preferred landing spot for obvious reasons. The Spurs traded for him in the middle of last season. Alongside Wembanyama and a slew of young talent, Fox helped the franchise win 62 regular-season games as the second-leading scorer. His second playoff run started great, too. He averaged 18.8 points, 5.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per outing on shooting splits of 46.2/34.6/73.3 through his first 11 games. The Spurs went 8-3 in that stretch.

Then he suffered a high ankle sprain, missing the first two games of the Western Conference Finals against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder. His jump shot (and confidence) hasn’t been the same since: 12.6 points per game on splits of 37.3/26.2/82.4 across nine games. The Spurs went 4-5.

Fox actually got off to his best start in weeks to begin Game 4 of the Finals. He had 13 points (3-5 3PT) and six assists without a single turnover in the first half. But as the Knicks chipped away and the game slowed down, Fox couldn’t get into a groove. He was hunting mismatches that he couldn’t take advantage of. The Spurs kept going to him late in the game, and he kept coming up empty.

“I think we had the largest lead in all four games,” Fox said. “We’ve lost those leads. Games have gotten close. Obviously, we grinded out Game 3. Every time we get this lead, that’s when the game starts, that’s when the game is on. And they’ve made the bigger plays down the stretch of games.”

Fox isn’t wrong there. The Spurs have led for most of the first halves in the Finals. They showed in Game 3 that they can stay composed and come out on top. But they’ve also failed to do that consistently, and Fox’s shortcomings are a reason why. He can look to change that narrative with a big Game 5 performance on Saturday back in Texas. The Spurs will need it to keep the season alive.