De'Aaron Fox, Kings Reportedly Agree to 5-Year, $163M Max Contract Extension

The Sacramento Kings have apparently found their franchise player.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Kings and point guard De'Aaron Fox agreed to a five-year, $163 million contract extension. What's more, there is a clause that would allow him to reach the $195.6 million supermax.

Charania noted Fox's deal is the first maximum one of the 2020 offseason.

This answers any doubts about Sacramento wanting to make Fox the centerpiece of its team moving forward. It drafted him with the No. 5 overall pick in 2017, and he has already developed into an elite-level playmaker who can blow past defenders in the open court and set up teammates when opponents collapse on his explosive first step.

The University of Kentucky product averaged 21.1 points, 6.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in 2019-20 while shooting 48.0 percent from the field.

There are some concerns about his outside shooting after he connected on just 29.2 percent of his triples last season, but he hit 37.1 percent of them in 2018-19 and is just 22 years old. If his 2018-19 percentage proves to be closer to his norm, he will be nearly unstoppable as he garners more experience in the league.

The Kings haven't made the playoffs since the 2005-06 season, but Fox is a cornerstone who can help change that over the course of this extension with the help of young talent around him such as Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III.

And Fox now doesn't have to worry about any lingering uncertainty about where he will play during his prime.