Though he was initially considered doubtful to suit up, All-Star Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox now intends to play through the fractured left index finger on his left shooting hand tomorrow, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link).
After winning both the first two games at home, the Kings’ 3-6 first-round Western Conference playoff matchup with the reigning champion Warriors is currently knotted up at 2-2. A critical Game 5 in Sacramento is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
“There’s no [ifs], ands or buts,” Fox told reporters after a team practice today, Anderson tweets. “I’m playing.”
Per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link), the Kentucky alum pegged his odds of suiting up at “99, 100 percent.”
According to Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 KTXL (via Twitter), Fox notes that he would likely miss a week or two of playing time with the injury were it to have happened during the regular season. He underwent imaging after Sacramento’s 126-125 Game 4 loss at Chase Center, and reiterated that he is still able to shoot with the hand.
Along with Curry, Fox has been the best player in this playoff series, so the prospect of potentially losing him Wednesday would have been a brutal blow to Sacramento’s chances. Across four games thus far, he’s been averaging 31.5 PPG on .447/.342/.700 shooting splits, along with 7.0 APG, 6.0 RPG, and 2.5 SPG.