De'Aaron Fox Selected No. 5 by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Draft

by:Nick Roush•06/22/17•

@RoushKSR

De'Aaron Fox is heading west.  The Kentucky point guard will team up with two former UK bigs, Willie Cauley-Stein and Skal Labissiere, on the Sacramento Kings. The No. 6 player in the 2016 recruiting class averaged 16.7 points, 4.6 assists and 4 rebounds per game in his only season at Kentucky.  He earned third team All-American honors from three different publications, he was a unanimous first team All-SEC Selection and he was the MVP of the conference tournament in Nashville. Fox became one of just three Wildcats to ever record a triple double, but it wasn't his best performance of the season.  Against Lonzo Ball and UCLA in the Sweet 16 he scored an NCAA Tournament freshman record 39 points to upend the Bruins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb02UydQsqI Fox follows in the footsteps of two other Calipari point guards to be selected in the lottery following their freshman season, joining John Wall (No. 1) and Brandon Knight (11). "It's been extremely gratifying," Fox said of sharing this experience with other freshmen that have been drafted. "I've known Jayson [Tatum] since the fourth grade and man, I'm speechless right now. We're living out our dreams together." "I can't even describe it, like I said. I'm extremely happy, I'm finally where I wanted to be, but like they said all week, the work is just beginning." How does Fox expect his speed to translate to the next level? He drew a familiar comparison. "A lot of the comparisons are to John Wall, and you saw him and how he was competing in the playoffs so if I'm able to use my speed the way he was, speed kills and you can't really teach it." As you may have noticed, De'Aaron honored his mother, a 21-year breast cancer survivor, with the lining of his jacket: "It's breast cancer signs. My mom is actually a 21-year breast cancer survivor, so that's just something for her." ESPN tried to pull away from the interview, but De'Aaron was having none of it, interrupting to thank his sponsor, JC Penney, for dressing him for the night. Nicely done, De'Aaron. You're already a pro. UPDATE: The Kings got De'Aaron a visor! https://twitter.com/SacramentoKings/status/878046886757883908 Much better.

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