Sabonis vs Fox?

[Srzly]

Getting ready for the season to start, I began listening to Kings podcasts again and on one of the recent Locked On episodes Matt James said that last year the team became like a Jr High School and was cliquey with the “Sabonis Table” and the “Fox Table” and some players were at the Fox table and others (including Doug) were at the Sabonis table. Apparently it divided the team and caused drama…

I had never heard this before (maybe I missed it) but I do recall several instances of players seeming cold to Sabonis and even Fox seemed like maybe he didn’t care much for him the first time we played the spurs after the trade.

Does anyone have more info on this? Is this well-known info?

I’ve been tuned out from Kings podcasts since the end of the season so i apologize if this is redundant. Mods, please feel free to delete or move if this was discussed and I missed the thread.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think it's pretty clear things soured between them. I hadn't heard about cliques but I imagine guys that re-signed to the team weren't impressed with him refusing a max extension to chase a super max, especially since that meant Fox's usage goes up at their expense. Maybe acceptable if the results in the win column came along, but the team got worse over the last two seasons.

I think Deebo must have fallen out with Fox early in the year, so maybe having a vet of his caliber arrive and get turned off Fox for some reason didn't help things.

Hopefully guys that I am sure are Fox guys (and by this I mean Keegan Murray) move on from any hard feelings and stay committed to the team.

 

[dude12]

It’s what you just wrote. Fox was ok with Brown coaching him hard and Domas wasn’t. Fox quit on the organization with the help of his agent. Domas quit on Brown. And the pro-Domas crowd will come up with something saying he did nothing wrong. Last time I checked, Brown turned Domas into a triple double machine but Browns a big meanie.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

It’s what you just wrote. Fox was ok with Brown coaching him hard and Domas wasn’t. Fox quit on the organization with the help of his agent. Domas quit on Brown. And the pro-Domas crowd will come up with something saying he did nothing wrong. Last time I checked, Brown turned Domas into a triple double machine but Browns a big meanie.

What is the evidence Domas quit on Brown aside from Fox's camp spreading that rumor? Honest question. Domas was the one guy on this club over the last 3 years that brought it every single night save for a few times his body broke down, either because someone assaulted him on the court or due to injury last year.

 

[dude12]

What is the evidence Domas quit on Brown aside from Fox's camp spreading that rumor? Honest question. Domas was the one guy on this club over the last 3 years that brought it every single night save for a few times his body broke down, either because someone assaulted him on the court or due to injury last year.

And there it is

 

[pdxKingsFan]

And there it is

No dude, show your work.

 

[dude12]

No dude, show your work.

How do I show you things that were talked about by the radio talking heads? They hinted at it. Domas quit on him. He still played hard because he’s a professional but it is what it is. Don’t accept it….dont really care if you do or don’t.

 

[The_Jamal]

No dude, show your work.

Nah, those people have no interest in an actual discussion, they care about their own personal bias and agenda. It's really maddening and gotten pretty horrible on this forum over the last few years.

Just so typical that instead of engaging in an actual conversation on why he thinks Domas quit, it's a "Ha, gotcha," moment.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

How do I show you things that were talked about by the radio talking heads? They hinted at it. Domas quit on him. He still played hard because he’s a professional but it is what it is. Don’t accept it….dont really care if you do or don’t.

All the talking heads were fed info from Fox's wife and agent to make sure Fox was painted in the best possible light.

Fox is the one who blew his assignment and soft-fouled Ivey to give up an unforgivable 4 point play on the penultimate play of Brown's Sacramento career.

Domas is the guy that took a team friendly deal to re-up after a career year while Fox refused the max extension put in front of him to chase more.

All available evidence on the court and pertaining to a will to be in Sacramento that I have access to tells me Domas is the team player here.

 

[dude12]

Nah, those people have no interest in an actual discussion, they care about their own personal bias and agenda. It's really maddening and gotten pretty horrible on this forum over the last few years.

Just so typical that instead of engaging in an actual conversation on why he thinks Domas quit, it's a "Ha, gotcha," moment.

Not at all. In your eyes, Domas couldn’t have done anything wrong. I’m not here to change that.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Domas could have quit on the team and demanded a trade. That is the one thing that made me turn on Fox.

 

[dude12]

All the talking heads were fed info from Fox's wife and agent to make sure Fox was painted in the best possible light.

Fox is the one who blew his assignment and soft-fouled Ivey to give up an unforgivable 4 point play on the penultimate play of Brown's Sacramento career.

Domas is the guy that took a team friendly deal to re-up after a career year while Fox refused the max extension put in front of him to chase more.

All available evidence on the court and pertaining to a will to be in Sacramento that I have access to tells me Domas is the team player here.

It’s why I said you won’t accept it. I th8nk there were issues way before a single defensive lapse. Fox was clearly on the way out by that time. Again, I’m sticking with my belief. You can stick with yours.

 

[dude12]

Domas could have quit on the team and demanded a trade. That is the one thing that made me turn on Fox.

Agreed. I was a Fox supporter. He’s dead to me.

 

[The_Jamal]

Not at all. In your eyes, Domas couldn’t have done anything wrong. I’m not here to change that.

Except you are with what you posted. Saying Domas is soft and couldn't handle being coached Brown. That's not you pushing an agenda? And when you're pressed your opinion on it, you say you got your info from "Radio heads hinting at it." LOL.

As opposed to the mountains of actual evidence proving the contrary. He didn't quit on the floor. He performed at an all-nba level for 3 seasons. But because radio talking heads, who are primarily "entertainment", said he quit on Brown, that disproves the ACTUAL evidence of what he put on tape and the stat sheet? Really just absolute nonsense

 

[pdxKingsFan]

It’s why I said you won’t accept it. I th8nk there were issues way before a single defensive lapse. Fox was clearly on the way out by that time. Again, I’m sticking with my belief. You can stick with yours.

So when in your eyes did Domas quit on Brown? Not what Recee fed to some radio guy. Not what his agent may have said to Amick. When did you see Domas quit?

 

[The_Jamal]

All the talking heads were fed info from Fox's wife and agent to make sure Fox was painted in the best possible light.

Fox is the one who blew his assignment and soft-fouled Ivey to give up an unforgivable 4 point play on the penultimate play of Brown's Sacramento career.

Domas is the guy that took a team friendly deal to re-up after a career year while Fox refused the max extension put in front of him to chase more.

All available evidence on the court and pertaining to a will to be in Sacramento that I have access to tells me Domas is the team player here.

I distinctly remember when DLO was going in on Fox at the beginning of this saga and he had to step out for 20 minutes during a show. Came back and said everything was "cool" and that he "got some facts wrong" because he got a call from someone on Fox's team. And the script flipped literally after that call.

 

[SacTownKid]

Domas could have quit on the team and demanded a trade. That is the one thing that made me turn on Fox.

Well, get ready, this has roughly a few months before we probably know where this franchise is heading and the rest of these dominoes start to fall. Up? Down? Who knows. Sometimes down is actually up.

 

[dude12]

So when in your eyes did Domas quit on Brown? Not what Recee fed to some radio guy. Not what his agent may have said to Amick. When did you see Domas quit?

He quit on him as the head coach. If you’re not on board with the guy and being critical of how he’s running the team, that’s part of it. If one of the leaders on the team is saying this, sounds like there was a clique on the side of Domas.
In my view, he quit on Brown and helped create a divided team.

 

[dude12]

I distinctly remember when DLO was going in on Fox at the beginning of this saga and he had to step out for 20 minutes during a show. Came back and said everything was "cool" and that he "got some facts wrong" because he got a call from someone on Fox's team. And the script flipped literally after that call.

You were in on the conversation?

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Sending that POS to San Antonio to leach off Wemby pisses me off more than him quitting on us. Ya let’s reward him while getting dog crap in return clown franchise

 

[The_Jamal]

You were in on the conversation?

Yeah, because "DURING THE SHOW" this happened. So, sure, I was in on the conversation.

 

[QWERTYLICIOUS]

Sending that POS to San Antonio to leach off Wemby pisses me off more than him quitting on us. Ya let’s reward him while getting dog crap in return clown franchise

Sometimes (actually, most of the time), I find myself asking what you're trying to accomplish being on this board trying to support a "clown franchise", as you regularly label the Kings, while ragging on the franchise at any opportunity that you get.

 

[SacTownKid]

He quit on him as the head coach. If you’re not on board with the guy and being critical of how he’s running the team, that’s part of it. If one of the leaders on the team is saying this, sounds like there was a clique on the side of Domas.
In my view, he quit on Brown and helped create a divided team.

Honestly though, that would make him basically like 99% of the rest of NBA players. Almost all players "quit" on their coach at some point. Listen to George Karls former players talk about him. Sometimes coaches wear out players, it happens, has happened to Brown himself more than once, and in the end it's not some major deal. The team then has to pick a side, we know which one the team picked. Honestly, probably the right call, Brown was heading backwards fast. Last time they dumped Cuz AND Karl. That's just going nuclear for no reason lol.

 

[Joshyjosh31]

Sometimes (actually, most of the time), I find myself asking what you're trying to accomplish being on this board trying to support a "clown franchise", as you regularly label the Kings, while ragging on the franchise at any opportunity that you get.

I think 99% of the nba world labels the franchise the same way doesn’t mean I’ll bandwagon to another team. Tough getting excited to watch the young guys wave towels this year while we win 36 games. I’m not gonna get fake excited cause we overpayed for a journeymen pg and brought in Eubanks to backup Sabonis

Portland is now lightyears ahead of us after refusing to trade Dame to Miami, GSW didn’t hand us Kuminga even when we tried overpaying for him but we traded fox to his spot after he torpedoed our season

 

[Caccia]

This whole conversation confuses me. Last season was a huge disappointment for many reasons, but the alleged "cliques" seem like a total fabrication. The leading reasons were: 1) Mike Brown's less than stellar coaching 2) Fox bailing out 3) Monk's injury late in the season. And there were more besides.

 

[gunks]

"Fox didn't mind Brown's tough coaching style" is such nutty propaganda.

Fox didn't mind because he didn't give a **** the last two seasons here. Dude would play one quarter a game and then sulk for no reason.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

He quit on him as the head coach. If you’re not on board with the guy and being critical of how he’s running the team, that’s part of it. If one of the leaders on the team is saying this, sounds like there was a clique on the side of Domas.
In my view, he quit on Brown and helped create a divided team.

Where/when did he quit on the coach? What is the evidence. People close to Fox with an axe to grind can be contributory evidence but not the sole evidence. I don't buy the narrative on Fox and Brown. It became in their mutual interest to say they were in alignment because certainly Brown was fired for his inability to get through to the star player despite constantly torching him in his pressers, and that star's reluctance to re-sign with the franchise.

If your boss publicly called you out at every meeting as not meeting your assignments when you were a top performer, would you want to stick around.

Honestly, all of this is water under the bridge, but I don't understand the narrative that Fox and Brown were in the right and everyone else was wrong.

 

[Srzly]

This whole conversation confuses me. Last season was a huge disappointment for many reasons, but the alleged "cliques" seem like a total fabrication. The leading reasons were: 1) Mike Brown's less than stellar coaching 2) Fox bailing out 3) Monk's injury late in the season. And there were more besides.

I agree. I was surprised he was speaking about it as fact on multiple episodes. But others on here seem to be confirming it was common knowledge of a fallout between the two. I just wasn’t aware of it I guess

I just thought the drama was with Fox leaving. Didn’t know there was any divide in the locker room of “Team Fox” vs “Team Sabonis” but I guess it could explain some weird things I noticed last year.

 

[ockingsfan]

I trust what my eyes saw.

Fox quit on the team early on in the season, thus, he quit on Brown. All this about Fox being a Brown guy was B.S. A photo-op with Brown after he was fired doesn't erase what I saw on the court from Fox. Fox wanted out, he quit on the team and Brown was collateral damage and was fired. All the propaganda about putting the blame on Sabonis is Fox camp trying to save his reputation.

Sabonis came to work everyday and every game. I never saw him take plays off and not fight hard every night. Fox on the other hand, tuned out after the first month after it was clear he wasn't going to make All-NBA and wasn't going to get that Super Max contract.

Fox and Reece can spin the situation all they want, but they torpedoed Brown and the Kings season to force their way out.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I agree. I was surprised he was speaking about it as fact on multiple episodes. But others on here seem to be confirming it was common knowledge of a fallout between the two. I just wasn’t aware of it I guess

I just thought the drama was with Fox leaving. Didn’t know there was any divide in the locker room of “Team Fox” vs “Team Sabonis” but I guess it could explain some weird things I noticed last year.

Fox unfollowed Domas immediately on social media and IIRC didn't shake his hand or did some other dumb show of disrespect for his homecoming game and when questioned about it after the fact he said something to the effect of "Sometimes your teammates are just coworkers".

This was quite a startling turn of face from the hug and embrace after their first game together, and the first full season together on the Beam Team run when they seemed to have joy.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of this came from Domas after he left money on the table signing an early extension only to see his co-star waive off a max contract. Or that after he signed this deal Brown seemed to give Fox the greenlight to take over the team and chase that big payday. On the other hand there could have been resentment from Fox's camp that Domas got the All-NBA selections both years while Fox only got one (and missed the one that would have forced us into a supermax). Or because when discussing All-Star snubs the consensus was more Domas getting snubbed. I don't know what Domas's motivation is but Fox's seem pretty clear at this point and I could easily see that causing a rift for a guy that has been the consummate team player during his tenure.