Subscribe
Follow Us
De'Aaron Fox is no stranger to big shots, but he is still somewhat of a stranger to the San Antonio Spurs. The NBA's inaugural winner of the Clutch Player of the Year Award, though, had the ball in his hands in the waning seconds of a tie game vs. the Memphis Grizzlies for the first time since joining his new team in early February.
The 27-year-old delivered with a clutch step-back jumper like he has done so many times before in his career.
“For some reason, no matter how I’m playing, the last shot just always goes in,” Fox said.
The former Sacramento King didn't lead the Spurs in scoring in a 130-128 victory at Memphis. The shot that put his team up by two with 1.8 seconds left was only the seventh bucket he hit on a night in which he only connected on 1-of-5 from 3-point land on his way to 20 points.
Yet, there was little doubt, especially with Victor Wembanyama out for the season with injury, as to where San Antonio wanted the ball.
Spurs postgame
De’Aaron Fox on the game winner in Memphis…
“…for some reason, no matter how I’m playing, the last shot just always goes in…”
Full answer ⬇️#Spurs #GoSpursGo #PorVida pic.twitter.com/IJHt998bDE
— Hector Ledesma (@HectorLedesmaTV) March 2, 2025
“He embraces those moments,” acting head coach Mitch Johnson said.
De'Aaron Fox details his game-winner vs. Memphis
Early in the fourth quarter, the Spurs had squandered nearly all of a 22-point lead. By the time they took the ball for the last time, they had lost all of an 11-point lead they had reestablished with a 10-0 run when Jaren Jackson Jr. hit a contested 3-pointer with 22.3 seconds left.
Article Continues Below
“In a spot like that we knew that had no timeouts, so you really just try to get off the last shot,” Fox said as he continued to detail what would prove his last opportunity.
“I knew they would send a double team, I knew they would do it. I told them (my teammates), ‘One, be ready, but, two, if I can go get the ball, I'm going to go back and get the ball.' I got off it early. Dev [Devin Vassell] kicked it back to me, they tried to do it again. I rejected it, tried to get to a spot, tried to get the last shot.”
Like Fox, Devin Vassell, who's the team's third-leading scored and ranked as its second before Fox's arrival, also scored 20.
“Allowed him to do this thing and he did it,” Johnson said of Fox's game-winning 20-footer.
The Grizzlies played without their starting backcourt of Ja Morant and Demsond Bane. Both were held out out following a 114-113 loss to the New York Knicks the night before. Thanks to a trade just a couple of weeks before in which they didn't give up any of the main pieces of their rotation, the Spurs had Fox.
“When I first got here, they told me to be myself. Obviously, it's still different,” the eighth-year pro added. “I wouldn't even say I've played up to standard since I've been here, but they still had the confidence in me to go out there and do that. I have that confidence in myself as well.”
The Spurs were hoping to break a four-game losing streak while facing a team that sports the fourth-best record in the Western Conference as Fox had gone only 7-of-16 from the field heading into the closing seconds. Yet, without Wemby, they had little doubt as to where they'd go when it mattered most.
“If I can't be confident in myself when they have that confidence in me, I don't know what to tell you.”
