De’Aaron Fox isn’t dwelling on past, only getting back to NBA Finals

SALT LAKE CITY – As loud as it was in Madison Square Garden when De’Aaron Fox’s layup was blocked in the final seconds of Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals, the criticism on sports talk platforms and social media toward the San Antonio Spurs guard was even louder.

His misses and miscues were recalled repeatedly. There was also wild trade speculation. Widely overlooked, however, was the painful high-ankle sprain that Fox played through in pursuit of his first NBA championship.

Somehow, Fox was unfazed and mostly unaware of all the social-media noise and sports-talk smoke.

“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. …

“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 averaged 18.6 points, 6.2 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game last season for San Antonio. He also flourished in the first round against the Portland Trail Blazers and the first four games of a second-round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

However, the 2026 NBA All-Star suffered a right high-ankle sprain on May 10 during Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Timberwolves. An NBA player is typically ruled out four to six weeks with a high-ankle sprain.

“I was the second-leading scorer when I got hurt,” Fox said.

Fox, however, didn’t have the typical mentality toward his injury, as the Spurs were aiming for their first NBA Finals appearance since 2014.

The 28-year-old previously played in one lone first-round playoff appearance as a member of the Sacramento Kings in 2023. There were no guarantees he would ever get another opportunity to play for a championship. Fox drew inspiration from Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who risked playing through a calf strain in the 2025 NBA Finals, only to suffer a torn Achilles tendon in a deciding Game 7 loss.

“Why did I play? I felt like I could help the team,” Fox said. “Seeing the OKC series, I thought there were things I could come out there and help with. If you ask any player — and you could use Tyrese as the biggest [example] for that — you know there is a chance you could get hurt if you have a calf strain. And he was like, ‘Oh, this is Game 7 of the [2025 NBA] Finals. And for me, there is nothing more I want to do than play in this game.’

“This is my first time being in the conference finals, first time being in the Finals. So, of course I want to play.”

Fox played in the final two games of the Spurs’ second-round series against the Timberwolves but missed the first two games of the Western Conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder. He played in the remaining five games of the conference finals that the Spurs won in seven games

It was obvious that Fox was hampered in the conference finals, averaging just 11.2 points per game on 36.5% shooting from the field and 22.7% from 3-point range.

“I played more games in the playoffs hurt than I did healthy,” said Fox from the Spurs’ shootaround Monday morning from the Delta Center in preparation for a preseason contest against the Utah Jazz. “It is what it is. It happened. People can talk. It’s no sweat off my back.”

Fox, All-Star center Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs opened as high as -220 favorites to win the 2026 NBA Finals. Before Game 1, Fox said his right high-ankle sprain did not feel great, but he was able to play. With a first-ever title at stake, Fox had no intention of missing out due to injury. The Spurs did not take him out of the starting lineup either.

Looking back, Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson said it was a collective franchise decision to keep Fox on the floor.

“There is a lot of conversation that happens within our walls that we keep within our walls,” Johnson said. “And obviously, when you start talking about people’s health and availability, typically there is the player and everyone around who is trying to support him.

“And you trust that people’s opinions and voices in those moments all want the same thing — that is, the best thing for the player to try to help the team. And that doesn’t always mean it’s the same answer.”

In Game 1 of the 2026 NBA Finals, Fox still wasn’t the All-Star version of himself. He scored seven points while missing 10 of 13 shots and all four of his 3-point attempts during a 105-95 loss to the New York Knicks in Game 1 in San Antonio. It was evident that his athleticism and quickness were hampered. He scored 20 points in a Game 2 loss in San Antonio but managed just 12 points while going 0-for-5 from 3-point range in a Game 3 win in New York.

The Spurs entered Game 4 of the NBA Finals down 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. San Antonio, however, seemed primed to even the series, taking a 76-49 lead into halftime at Madison Square Garden in New York after hitting 14 3-pointers. But the Knicks mounted a historic 29-point comeback to win 107-106 and take a 3-1 series lead.

Fox received much of the blame for the collapse. He missed six of eight shots and committed two turnovers on a team-high 44 second-half touches, while also making a critical mistake near the end of the game.

With the Spurs up one point with about 13 seconds left, Fox had the ball on a fast break with options. He could have attempted to dribble out the clock, wait for the Knicks to possibly foul him, sending him to the free-throw line, or attempt a layup that could put his team up three. Fox decided to attempt to outrun Knicks forward OG Anunoby for a layup that he may have dunked under normal, healthy conditions.

But Anunoby ran Fox down and blocked the shot and the Knicks retained possession with 5.7 seconds left. While a replay later showed a potential foul by Anunoby, it wasn’t called.

“I’ve definitely thought about it,” Fox said about the block. “It happened. Obviously, knowing the outcome I’d definitely try to play it differently. It happened. I can’t say I thought about it in the past month as we’ve gotten ready for this season. But I thought about it over the summer, for sure.”

And after Knicks star Jalen Brunson missed a 3-pointer, Anunoby stunned the NBA world with a game-winning tip-in with 1.3 seconds left. The Knicks took a commanding 3-1 series lead with the incredible comeback victory and went on to beat the Spurs in Game 5 in San Antonio to win their first NBA title since 1973.

Of all the Spurs players, no one drew more criticism than Fox after it ended.

However, Fox earned even more respect from Johnson for fighting through ankle pain in an attempt to help the Spurs win.

“De’Aaron Fox has proven throughout his career, before he got to us and with us, that he is a tough, durable player,” Johnson said. “When you look back at the playoffs in totality, when you look at the Minnesota series, the Oklahoma City series and into the Finals, he proved exactly that. Nothing has changed there.

“There are a lot of things that get more attention when you get further into the playoffs. Rightfully so. That’s the business that we’re in. That is how this thing works. It probably comes with more praise than it deserves and more criticism that is probably true.”

Fox and his family spent most of the offseason in his native Houston and also vacationed in Jamaica. As time passed, he mostly moved on mentally from his Finals struggles, and his high-ankle sprain healed.

“My mentality on vacation was to get healthy and work — the same as any summer,” Fox said. “I reflected [on the Finals] a bit. But at some point, you have to move on. It took two months. It took a while. But you don’t want to just sit here and dwell on that knowing you have another season to get ready for. …

“It is what it is. It happened. I’m not going to sit around here thinking about things that happened years ago. So, I’m not going to sit and think about things that happened months ago.”

The Spurs and the Thunder have +270 to +500 odds to win the 2027 NBA Finals, according to ESPN NBA Futures. The Spurs are also expected to employ a new three-guard starting lineup that includes Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper.

While Fox knows there is a long, unexpected road to go, he believes the Spurs’ painful Finals experience from last season will be quite valuable this time around. He also believes the road back to the Finals will be tougher as Western Conference champions because they will get “everyone’s best shot.”

“We want to get back to where we were, but it’s a long season,” Fox said. “I don’t know how many teams that have been to the Finals the last six or seven years has been back to the Finals. That’s our goal. But we know we have to take it one game at a time. …

“We’ve gotten better. Being able to get to that position [last season], we understand what it takes. But we can’t get bored with the regular season because we can put ourselves in a tough position to get back there. A lot of teams don’t get back there.”