De'Aaron Fox is quickly learning just how unforgiving the NBA can be.
The San Antonio Spurs were on their way to a convincing win over the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, but Fox and the rest of Mitch Johnson's starting lineup simply failed to hold onto their 29-point lead.
With the Spurs leading 106-105 with under 15 seconds remaining, Fox decided to attack the basket with OG Anunoby trailing him. He should've pulled the ball out and force the Knicks to send him to the free throw line. Instead, he got blocked and opened the door for Anunoby to eventually make the game-winning shot a few moments later.
"I tried to get a layup, go up three, force them to take a three, and OG got a good block," Fox told reporters.
When asked why he didn't try to dribble out the clock, Fox simply replied: "I just thought I'd be able to outrun him."
© Brad Penner-Imagn Images.
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Spurs fans were disgusted by Fox's late-game antics as well as his postgame remarks.
Shortly after Game 4 came to an end, Spurs fans created a GoFundMe to cover the remaining money on Fox's contract. He's set to make $221 million over the next four seasons.
This GoFundMe campaign to cover Fox's contract has already been removed.
"GoFundMe is monitoring related fundraiser starts and will remove any that have not been authorized by the recipient of the funds," GoFundMe told MySA.
Spurs fans are done with Fox.
While they won't receive money from GoFundMe, it's pretty clear Spurs fans are out on Fox regardless of what he does in Game 5.
"I woke up ready to forgive De'Aaron Fox if he showed ANY accountability.. HE SHOWED NONE! HE STILL THINKS HE WAS CORRECT TO EVEN ATTEMPT THE SHOT! Bench him for the rest of the foreseeable future," a Spurs fan wrote on X.
"It’s time to go Fox," another fan said. "We have a young stud who makes far less but just as effective this right here is unacceptable I expected De'Aaron to be better with him being the vet smh."
"This DeAron Fox looked like he was point shaving," a social media user declared. "I never liked his game. Hes always been a poor decision maker. I thought with maturity he'd get there... Nope. Making the same dumb plays he made as a rookie in Sacramento."
Fox is averaging 14.3 points per game in the NBA Final on 38.2% shooting from the field. It's not unfair to say that he's underperformed.
We'll see if Fox redeems himself this Saturday in a must-win game.
