With 13.3 seconds left on the clock and down by four, DeMar DeRozan receives the ball at the top of the three-point line. His defender, Harrison Barnes, is screened just enough to allow him some daylight to launch a three. Barnes is called for a foul, the shot drops. DeRozan gets a four-point play attempt and nails the free throw.
Tie game.
Now, with 8 seconds left, De’Aaron Fox dribbles the ball up the floor. His teammates spread out and clear the lane. He doesn’t need it. He crosses the half court line, takes two dribbles to his left and raises up for a three with a defender in his face and a second defender collapsing on the shot. It splashes down and the Kings go up 3 with .7 seconds left and win the game.
This occurred in Chicago in March 2023. Watch the full sequence below.
Fox would go on to win the Clutch Player Of The Year award that season. DeRozan would go on to remember that moment and Fox winning the award over him.
“I told him I was mad two years ago that he got it [the award], and I didn’t get it,” he said Tuesday at his introductory press conference as a new member of the Sacramento Kings. “But yeah, we’ve definitely been battling. Just with that there, me being a competitor that I am, I sit and watch a lot of those moments. I think even in Chicago, I remember he had a game winner on us in Chicago. I made it a thing. This past season when we played here, I think we were losing by 20. I made it a thing in the fourth quarter to make sure we won just in case we were head to head in that battle again.”
The Kings now have the benefit of having two guys that are considered among the top clutch options in the NBA. DeRozan was the runner up for this year’s Clutch Player Of The Year award.
In the waning minutes of close games, Fox utilizes his ability to slash to the basket with exceptional speed mixed with a stop, start button that should only be available in video games. Combine that with an impressive mid-range game and a vastly improved three-point shot, and his options with the floor spread are expansive.
DeRozan doesn’t have the speed of Fox, but he makes up for it in his size, strength and craftiness in the mid-range. He can create his own shot in crunch time despite not being as fast, even by taking defenders off the dribble because they are so concerned about his jumper.
Fox has his own mid-range skillset as well.
That double-overtime score is still wild.
Having both of them in the final moments of a game will keep defenses guessing about what the Kings are going to do, especially with guys like Malik Monk, Keegan Murray and Keon Ellis available on the outside, who are good three-point shooters. There a variety of combinations of options in terms of switching between drives, jumpers, finding open teammates for three, coming off the pick-and-roll with Domantas Sabonis, etc. And with the amount of offensive talent among the closers that will be on the floor, it is going to be very tough to stop.
Considering both Fox and DeRozan can take a shot in crunch time by isolating and attacking the defense, Mike Brown will probably decide which one to use for clutch shots based on how the game is going (the current game flow and who has had the hot hand). If Fox has been destroying the defense and finishing at the rim all game, Brown would probably go to him. If Deebo has been nailing his mid-range all game, he might go to him in isolation. Or, if the defense has been collapsing on Fox’s drives the whole game, then relying on DeRozan’s mid-range might be more effective.
Then again, either of these guys could probably hit the clutch shot regardless of who has had the better game.
There are situational decisions to be considered though. If the team needs a three, for example, Brown might use Fox to penetrate and find an open teammate for three (or let him take it since he is a better three-point shooter than DeRozan.) If they just need a two, he might let DeRozan go and get it. There also are various options in the high pick and roll where Fox might be able to go into that action and find DeRozan for a quick iso. Again, the defense is going to have a hard time predicting this offense.
Deebo is certainly excited about the potential.
“To see someone as special as him [Fox], I’ve been following him since he was in college. See the amazing things he’s able to do. Just being a part of that could be special,” DeRozan said.
