De'Aaron Fox Injured, "Ignored" Coach's Ask To Stay On Bench

To say that De'Aaron Fox is a true warrior (and we don't mean Golden State) is an understatement. He turned his ankle in the 4th quarter of Sunday night's overtime win over the Los Angeles Lakers, and limped off the court. But he wouldn't be deterred from getting back out there. 

Not knowing the severity of the injury, when the OT began, head coach Mike Brown wanted Fox to remain on the bench, but the All-Star ignored his coach's instructions and started the extra period. 

"I started calling him, and he’s ignoring me,” Brown said. But after just 90 seconds, Brown removed him, saying that Fox was "limping really bad."

The injury occurred with just over seven minutes to play in the 4th, when Fox stepped on Gabe Vincent’s foot and rolled his right ankle. He's expected to miss some time, per Shams Charania, with a "moderate" ankle sprain.

De'Aaron Fox went down after rolling his ankle on this play.

He got up and walked gingerly towards the locker room 🙏pic.twitter.com/h9pzcnFwLw

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 30, 2023

Fox stayed down on the court for two to three minutes, but eventually limped off the floor and headed to the locker room with trainers.

The feisty guard re-entered the game shortly after and hit a big three, but wasn't able to finish the quarter.

“Fox is our closer,” Huerter said. “You guys saw him try to battle through it. He didn’t want to come off the court. He wasn’t supposed to start the overtime and he just kind of walked out there and told the coaches he was going to play. He’s a warrior.”

“(Fox) is tough as nails, man,” Brown said. “To try to show the grit that he showed and get out there to help us win a ballgame, that just speaks volumes to who he is and how much he wants to lay his body on the line to help his team.”

The Kings won the game, 132-127, but will have to make due without Fox, for real this time, for a few games at least.