De’Aaron Fox spent part of the offseason as a punching bag for the basketball internet, and he’s making it clear the noise never really got to him.
The San Antonio Spurs point guard became a hot topic after Game 4 of the NBA Finals, when OG Anunoby erased him in transition late in the fourth quarter and then finished the possession with the tip-in that sealed the game. From there, Fox took plenty of ridicule around the league and online. His response, in an Andscape feature by Marc Spears, was simple: he wasn’t seeing much of it anyway.
“I don’t have basketball on my timeline,” Fox said. “No one is calling me talking.
I can’t do nothing about all the other things. Everybody has a podcast.
Everyone thinks their opinion matters.
Fox also said the bigger story was the injury he was carrying. He revealed he was dealing with a high ankle sprain suffered in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Timberwolves, an issue that by itself should have sidelined him for a long stretch and possibly most of the rest of the playoffs. Instead, he kept going.
“This is my first time in the conference finals and the Finals. There is no way I can’t play right now. If it were the regular season, I definitely wouldn’t have played,” Fox said.
Playing through it came with a cost. Spears noted that Fox’s production dipped sharply while he battled the ankle issue, with Fox averaging 11.2 points on 36.5% shooting from the field and 22.7% shooting from three.
Even then, Fox said he viewed the decision to stay on the floor as proof of his toughness, not something to be embarrassed by.
“I played more games in the playoffs hurt than I did healthy,” said Fox. “It is what it is.
It happened. People can talk.
It’s no sweat off my back.”
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