The San Antonio Spurs' 2025-26 season ended one step short of an NBA title.
San Antonio defeated the defending champion Thunder in seven games in the Western Conference Finals, reaching the NBA Finals for the first time since 2014. But they couldn't finish the job against the Knicks, despite leading by double digits in all five games.
In Game 4, the Spurs built the largest halftime lead by a visiting team in Finals history, and New York still came back for the biggest comeback in Finals history. In Game 5, San Antonio led by 16 before the Knicks rallied back. Jalen Brunson dropped 45 points and hit the go-ahead floater with just over a minute remaining to clinch a 94-90 win, and the Finals MVP award.
The Spurs led in the final two minutes in three of their four losses to New York, and one of the players who took the most heat for the Finals loss was De'Aaron Fox.
Recently, though, Fox sat down with renowned NBA reporter Marc Spears and defended his play in last year's playoffs.
"I was the second-leading scorer when I got hurt," Fox Said. "Why did I play? I felt like I could help the team ... 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.'"
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After a high-ankle sprain in the WCF, Fox never looked like the All-Star version of himself, scoring in single digits in three of his first four games back. In the NBA Finals, he averaged just 12.8 points while shooting 34.3% from the field and 25% from three, including a brutal 3 of 15 shooting night in Game 5, where he went scoreless in the fourth quarter.
By far the worst moment for him, though, came in Game 4, when he drove in a contested layup instead of just running out the clock with 12 seconds left and the Spurs holding a 1-point lead. Fox said after the Game 5 loss that his shots "felt good" but just weren't falling.
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Fox wasn't the only reason the Spurs lost the NBA Finals, but his poor play certainly didn't help, and when you're getting paid $55.4 million a year, that's unacceptable.
It didn't take very long for fans to blast Fox for his comments.
"Brother, you went up for a layup with 15 seconds left while your team was up one instead of holding the ball, being an idiot has nothing to do with playing while injured," one user wrote.
"Love how he blames his calf for him being an absolute bonehead. This generation bruh smh," another added.
"He got to stop talking like everyone in the world don’t have eyes the delusion really in him," one other fan wrote.
"The team was better with you sitting than playing bro 😂😂," another commented.
"Just say you played bad and move on do better why the whole monologue of excuses," another replied.
"Can’t defend this play buddy," one other user added, with the clip of his brutal layup attempt in Game 4.