De’Aaron Fox. End of article.
Ok, in all seriousness, Fox is just out here casually making game winning shots and has seemingly wrapped up the Clutch Player of the Year award with yet another amazing performance last night. They’ll have no time to rest before tipping off again against the Nets tonight, so let’s see what they can do to keep the good vibes rolling. Note that the Nets stats will predominantly focus on the post-trade deadline games given the massive roster shift that they’ve undergone.
Since February 10th, the Nets have gone 6-8 and have the 25th ranked offense and 19th ranked defense. Again, those ranking are just since February 10th, and show that the Nets went through a pretty large overhaul part way through the season. For trading away two superstars, they haven’t completely melted away, but they are in a bit of limbo at where they are going next with a post-trade thrown together roster. They have won 5 of their last 7 games, with two of those wins coming against the Celtics and Nuggets.
In the 14 games since the trade, Mikal Bridges has completely taken off with an increased offensive role. He’s averaging 26.3 Points, 4.8 Rebounds and 2.7 Assists on 50.6/45.8/88.9% shooting splits. His Usage Rate has skyrocketed to 27.3% as a member of the Nets, which would easily be a career high for the lengthy wing. For some reference, Fox is sitting at a 28.8% Usage Rate.
The Nets also have some interesting pieces around Bridges. Nic Claxton is 2nd in the league with 2.5 Blocks per game and has a nice 78.4% FG% at the rim. Spencer Dinwiddie is averaging 18.1 Points and 7.9 Assists as a member of the Nets. He doesn’t have the best shooting splits (41/28.4/84.7%), but the passing numbers are very intriguing. Dorian Finney-Smith’s 3-point shot hasn’t transferred from the Mavs to the Nets yet, as he’s dipped to 28.0% from deep. And be on the lookout from Cam Johnson from beyond the arc. Like others, his percentage has dipped to 34.7%, but his volume of 3PA’s has gone up to 7.3 after the trade.
A little extra love for De’Aaron Fox, who truly is having an All-NBA caliber season. He’s up to 25.6 Points and 6.2 Assists per game on 51.6% shooting from the field and 33.6% from 3. He’s gone 9-of-18 from 3 in the last 2 games, including the game winner last night.
When he starts hitting 3’s, his game opens up even more. Defenders are left with the choice of having to step up to defend the 3 or give him space to keep him from driving past to get to the rim.
Fox now has 24 30+ Point games this season, which is 8th most in the league. He’s shown the ability to go off on any given night before, but this his high scoring consistency this year has set him apart and helped propel the Kings to the top of the standings. If he keeps this up, there’s no telling how far the Kings can go this year.