De’Aaron Fox on Game 5: ‘No ifs, ands or buts. I’m playing’

SACRAMENTO,Calif. (AP) — If the decision about whether De’Aaron Fox can playthrough abrokenindex fingeron his shooting hand is up to Fox, there isno doubt.

“Right now,there’s no ifs, ands or buts,” he said Tuesday. “I’m playing.”

While theSacramento Kings are still listing Fox as questionable for Game 5against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, all signs arepointing to the star point guard giving it a shot withthefirst-round seriestied attwo games apiece.

Fox took partin a non-contact practice with a splint on his left index fingerand then spent significant time afterwardworking on hisshootingto get prepared for playing with a splint in areal game.

Fox said hehad no problems dribbling and passing and the biggest question wasmaking sure he could deal with the pain and make his shot.

He said hefelt optimistic after the swelling in the finger went down in thepast day and the pain has become manageable.

“At the endof the day, I’m fine,” he said. “I can shoot the ball. At thispoint in the season, everybody has something. Obviously a bonemight not be chipped, but something is hurting on everybody. So yougo out there and you still play the game. I’m not worried aboutit.”

Coach MikeBrown said the final decision about Wednesday night will be a jointone between him, Fox, the trainers and medical staff.

But Brownsaid it wasn’t premature for Fox to say he “believes” he willplay.

“He’s notsaying I’m going and I’m going to play 40 minutes,” Brown said.“He’s going try to give it a go. I think that’s what you just gowith at the end of the day and you see what happens.”

Warriorscoach Steve Kerr said his team won’t change its approach todefending Fox and isn’t worried about overconfidence if Fox can’tplay.

“If we letour guard down, there’s something seriously wrong with us,” Kerrsaid. “We’ll be ready to go.”

Fox gotinjured on a drive midway through the fourth quarter. He remainedin the game after the injury and even made a key 3-pointer in theclosing minute beforeSacramentolost 126-125. Fox passed out of a double team on the finalpossession and the Kings lost when Harrison Barnes missed a3-pointer at the buzzer.

Fox hasemerged as a star in his first trip to the postseason, averaging31.5 points, seven assists and six rebounds through six games.

His 38 pointsin a Game 1 win were tied for the second most for a player in hispostseason debut and his 126 points so far are tied for the sixthmost for any player in his first four career playoff games.

Fox had 38points, nine rebounds and five assists in the Game 4 loss.

“Whether Foxyplays or not, we all have to play better,” Brown said. “That’s howI look at it.”

Fox wasannounced last week as the inaugural winner of theNBA’sclutch player of the yearaward. He led the league inclutch-game scoring this season with 194 points in 39 such games;clutch games are defined as those where the margin between teams isfive points or less at any point in the final five minutes.

Those werethe most clutch points scored in a season since LeBron James had197 in the 2017-18 season.