Sacramento Kings: How concerning is De’Aaron Fox’s inefficient start?

How concerning is De’Aaron Fox’s inefficient start to the season for the Sacramento Kings? 

There is a thing in sports of players playing themselves out of a slow start or funk. Sometimes a player in poor form can drag down the rest of the team. In the NFL, Patrick Mahomes is a prime example of when you are off, it ruins everything for the team, but when he is back on track, the wins start stacking up.

When your primary ball-handler in the NBA is inefficient, it makes it incredibly hard for your young roster to win anything. At 6-9, the Sacramento Kings are starting to feel De’Aaron Fox’s slow start.

Fox is an exhilarating young player, who averaged over 25 points per game last year, and will be turning 24 next month. This year has been more than a struggle for him as his shooting percentages have plummeted.

Fox’s slashes line up like this, 41.8% from the field, 24.3% from 3, and 71.4% from the free-throw line. His shooting from the floor is abysmal right now, and it is made worse by the volume of which he shoots.

Fox is currently attempting 18.2 shots a game which is four more shots a game than any other teammate. To put this even more in perspective, Harrison Barnes, the leading scorer on the Kings, is averaging just above Fox in points at 20.4 vs. 20.3, and Barnes is doing this on only 12.9 field goal attempts a game.

Barnes is also shooting 48.7% from the field and 42.5% from 3 for the Kings. Barnes is the Kings’ most important offensive option but is being stifled by Fox continuing to force up shots.

Fox continues to hog the ball for lack of words as he is also the leader in Usage Percentage on the team at 28.4%. Fox is also bottom four on his team when it comes to VORP at -0.1. Fox is shooting the most and handling the ball the most while being the most inefficient player on the floor.

Fox is even performing worse than another struggling marquee player like Russell Westbrook. Westbrook has been dubbed Westbrick by social media for his poor shooting numbers in Los Angeles. Although, Westbrook is shooting better than Fox by posting a 43.7% FG% and 30% 3P%, respectively.

Now Fox still has time to figure out his offensive woes as we are only 15 games into the season. Fans will start to worry about this trend; the Kings might be looking at the 16th year in a row missing the playoffs.

There have been rumors for years that this Kings’ roster could not play together. Perhaps if Fox can not find his footing soon, the Kings should start looking for a potential trade partner for their young combo guard. If everyone is paddling toward one goal, sometimes it is best to ditch the guy stroking the wrong way.