With the McDonald’s All-American Game coming up on Wednesday night, we’re revisiting our NEXT FIVE series on each 2016 signee. We’ll start with De’Aaron Fox, aka “The General.”
Be sure to check out the rest of the profiles, which we’ll have on the site throughout the week:
Malik Monk
Sacha Killeya-Jones
Wenyen Gabriel
Edrice “Bam” Adebayo
When De’Aaron Fox was a sophomore in high school, he made a vision board for his room that included his target grade point average, point and assist goals, and pictures of his favorite players in the NBA. Also on the board? Pictures upon pictures of Kentucky basketball during the John Calipari era.
“I’m not being biased, but Kentucky is the best basketball program in the country,” De’Aaron told me. “Every kid wants to go there. When you start watching college basketball, sometimes you’re too young to know what’s going on, but once you start to understand what’s going on, every kid at some point in their life has wanted to go to Kentucky.”
While in Texas to cover the Kentucky/Texas A&M game a few weeks back, I stopped by Cypress Lakes High School in Katy to meet De’Aaron. After talking to him for thirty minutes, it was clear to me that he’s not only capable of being the next great Calipari point guard, he’s ready for the challenge.
At 6’4″, 170 lbs., De’Aaron looks like a typical Calipari point guard: tall, long, and athletic. I wasn’t able to see him play a game in person, but I’ve watched enough of his tape to tell you he’s crazy fast, a blur in the open court that reminds you of another great Calipari pupil, John Wall — except Fox is a better shooter. If Wall and Brandon Knight ever had a kid, it would be Fox: an explosive speedster who can travel the length of the court in a few seconds, or pull up and kill you with a jump shot. That energy and effort extends to the defensive side of the court as well; while most high-schoolers slack on defense, De’Aaron thrives on it, jumping at the chance to shut down his opponents.
The comparison to Wall is especially fitting since the two are actually friends. Wall saw Fox’s mixtape last summer and was so impressed that he tweeted about it, calling De’Aaron “tough” and agreeing with Scout.com recruiting analyst Evan Daniels when he said Wall and Fox would face off in a few years. From there, Fox reached out and Wall became part pal, part mentor to the future Cat.
“I was actually in China when it started. It was a couple of days before I released my list,” De’Aaron said of the shoutout from Wall. “Then we just started getting in contact with each other and we’ve been talking ever since the summer.”
When he heard the Wizards would be in Houston to play the Rockets in January, Fox invited Wall to come see him play in nearby Katy. Wall accepted the invitation.
“I looked at the door and he walked in and nodded his head,” Fox said. “Nobody knew who he was at first because he had his hoodie on and his glasses, then he actually sits right behind my mom. So he takes his hood off, takes off his glasses, and my mom has her Kentucky shirt on, so he starts talking to her.”
As you might imagine, once people started recognizing Wall, the gym went nuts.
“Kids just standing there staring at him like they can’t even watch the game,” Fox said. “For me, it was like he told me he was going to come to the game and he did, so at this point in time, I was just reveling in it.”
The Spartans lost that game, their first district loss of the season, but De’Aaron played well, scoring 36 points. After the game, Wall came to the locker room and told the team to keep their heads up, and pulled De’Aaron aside for some one-on-one time.
“He told me, ‘Just be ready for next year,'” Fox said. “‘Do anything you can to just prepare yourself.'”
Part of that preparation is watching Tyler Ulis.
As you might expect, Fox has watched every Kentucky game this season, even the ones on the same nights as his own games.
“I’ll record it and, as soon as I get home, I’ll start it over, trying not to see what the score is. I always have alerts come to my phone, so if the alerts come, I’ll delete it so I won’t see the score,” De’Aaron said.
Even casual basketball fans are impressed by Tyler Ulis, but, as a young and hungry point guard himself, De’Aaron studies Tyler’s every move.
“He really runs the team. He’s probably the best vocal leader in the country, honestly, to me. For him to be that small and command that much of his team, it’s just amazing to watch.”
Fox works out with Rasheed Sulaimon, a fellow Houston native that plays for Maryland. Sulaimon used to play for Duke and told Fox to pay special attention to Ulis.
“He just told me to watch Tyler’s game, watch how much he talks on the court. He’s just an extension of Coach Cal. Tyler is small, but I feel like he has — there’s a place for Tyler in the NBA,” Fox said. “I think he can really play. Isaiah Thomas is an All-Star this year and Tyler’s probably better than him.”
Given Tyler’s incredible play this season, it doesn’t look likely that he’ll be back next year, but if he is, Fox said he would have no problem playing behind or alongside him.
“Definitely. He played well behind the [Harrison] Twins, and even when they played together, he played well. I feel like I could play with Tyler, I feel like there wouldn’t be a problem.”
Speaking of the Twins, did you know De’Aaron played against them in his first ever high school game? The three played together on The Defenders, an Under Armor club team in Houston, but De’Aaron admitted it was a little daunting to square off against the then-seniors as a 14-year-old freshman.
“They were huge. I wasn’t intimidated because I’ve been around them so much, so it was fun, but we ended up getting blown out that game. We went up 9-2, and their coach was about to call a timeout and Andrew was like, ‘No, no don’t call it,” and they just started scoring in bunches,” Fox said.
In all of our “Next Five” profiles, we asked each 2016 signee about the famous group text they share. Malik Monk told me De’Aaron started it and texts most often, a claim that Fox vehemently denied.
“I definitely don’t text the most! Wenyen [Gabriel] texts the most,” Fox said, laughing. “We talk about the games, we talk about next year. We talk about life most of the time, just what we’re doing. We honestly talk every day. Somebody says something every day. Bam, honestly, probably doesn’t respond most of the time and Malik’s really quiet. He texts me more than he texts the group. I just have a really good relationship with Malik.”
Fox and Monk are close. Last August, they went to Nike’s EYBL Training Camp together in the Bahamas and shared a backcourt, which is when the talk of a package deal truly began.
“Everyone thought he was going to Arkansas, but he was telling me he wanted to play with me, so I was like, ‘Man, I’m most likely going to Kentucky.’ I told him that [in the Bahamas]. He was like, ‘Well, if you do, just know I’m coming.’ So, once I committed, I felt like he was really going to come. Arkansas is a good school but I feel like it can’t get any better than Kentucky.”
After playing alongside Malik in the Bahamas, how much is De’Aaron looking forward to sharing a backcourt with him at Kentucky?
“It’ll be extremely exciting to play with him. I’ve never played with anybody as fast or athletic as me in the same backcourt, so that’s definitely going to be fun,” he said.
Here’s De’Aaron’s breakdown of the other signees in the 2016 class:
Edrice “Bam” Adebayo:
“He’s just a monster. He’s a monster. He’s about 6’10”, he has a higher vertical than me. So, I’m like, ‘You’re a half a foot taller than me with a bigger vertical than me. There’s nothing you can’t do at this point.’ And then skill wise, people don’t know, but Bam can handle the ball, he can shoot the ball. He has a pretty good back-to-the-basket game. He’s a better player than what people give him for. Everybody just thinks he’s an athletic monster but Bam’s really skilled.”
Wenyen Gabriel:
“I haven’t played with Wenyen yet, but I know how skilled he is. He’s very long. He can play the three, the four, the five. He can do it all right now.”
Sacha Killeya-Jones:
“Sacha, he’s going to be a great piece for us. Sacha’s probably the best back-to-the-basket person that we have coming in next year. I feel like with his skills, we all complement each other so well.”
If you’re wondering what De’Aaron’s future teammates think of him, just listen to Calipari’s reasons for nicknaming him “The General.”
“All the players in this class, you know who they wanted to play with? De’Aaron,” Calipari said in his Signing Day video back in November. “I told him I was going to nickname him ‘The General’ because these guys all want to go to war with him leading.”
All that being said, there’s still one player out there that can take this class from great to the greatest.
“I talk to Marques all the time. I’ve honestly known him since I was in fourth grade,” De’Aaron said of 6’11” center Marques Bolden. Bolden is considered the best center in the 2016 class and will decide between Kentucky, Duke, Oklahoma, and TCU this April, although most believe it’s a two-horse race between the Cats and the Blue Devils. Bolden is from DeSoto, Texas (near Dallas), and Fox estimated that they’ve played against each other 30-35 times over the years.
“I’ve been trying to get him to come. I just feel like he’s waiting to see what happens with people going to the draft. But I told him to come. I was like, ‘You’re going to have to fight for a spot no doubt,’ but I feel like that’s what you want. You should want to come into practice and compete. But he’s just weighing his options.”
What would adding Marques to the class mean?
“It just makes us bigger and better. Marques is 6’11”. I feel like he’s probably the best back-to-the-basket player in the country this year, so just adding him would be a great piece, make us even deeper.”
Given UK’s struggles in the post this year, the Cats could really use Bolden right now, a topic that brought us to a discussion about Skal Labissiere. Fox said he’s known Skal since Skal came to America in 2010. As a sophomore, Skal played for the Arkansas Wings EYBL team with Malik Monk. The Wings played Fox’s Houston Hoops pretty often, and Fox said he’s kept in touch with Skal since then, evening reaching out this season to offer support.
“I just try to keep encouraging him. I talk to him. I try not to talk about it, just try to keep what we have on a personal level, like we’ve always had it. I just tell him to keep his head up and keep fighting. If you fight, then you should be able to get through it.”
Playing at Kentucky isn’t for everyone, a phrase De’Aaron repeated throughout the interview. Not only are you expected to contribute immediately at the most scrutinized program in college basketball, you become an instant idol to the Big Blue Nation, the best — and craziest — fan base in sports. De’Aaron told me he first fully realized the passion of the BBN when he met Seth Barnett, one of his classmates at Cypress Lakes.
Seth is a lifelong Kentucky basketball fan who suffers from cerebral palsy, but to De’Aaron, he’s just a friend who loves the Cats. Seth and his family moved to Texas from Magoffin County, Kentucky when Seth was young and they remain fierce Kentucky fans. Even though he wasn’t committed to Kentucky yet, when De’Aaron found out Calipari and Kenny Payne were coming to visit him in September, he knew he had to share the moment with Seth.
“To me, it’s a feeling I can’t put into words,” De’Aaron said. “When he saw Coach Cal, he couldn’t take his eyes off him. He had a big smile, you could just see how happy he is. For him, it’s just — I can’t really say that I know the feeling because I’ve had idols and stuff, I’ve met people, but for him, because they’re from the state of Kentucky, they’ve been diehard Kentucky fans and for him to meet Coach Cal, even his mom, for both of them to meet him, just to know that I was able to be the bridge between two people’s worlds. Once they met it was — not a sigh of relief, I can’t even put into words what it felt like.”
That’s just a small taste of what De’Aaron can expect in Lexington, and while he said he’s dealt with his fair share of fame so far in Houston, signing the occasional autograph and taking pictures with young fans, he knows it will be on another level at Kentucky.
“Sometimes you don’t want that attention off the court, but just knowing people look up to me a lot, it’s amazing. It’s just a blessing to know I could be somebody’s role model,” De’Aaron said. “Nothing will ever prepare you to be in Lexington, but I’m trying as best I can.”
(For more on De’Aaron and Seth’s visit with Calipari and Kenny Payne, check out our story on it from September.)
Back to that vision board. De’Aaron said he’s hit all of his goals but one.
“I wanted to average 7-8 assists this year, but I’m at about 5.5 or 6 a game,” he said.
Fortunately, he’s still got time to boost that average. Cypress Lakes is currently working their way through the playoffs. Last night, Fox scored 40 points in the Spartans’ quarterfinal win over Benjamin Davis, and they’ll play in the Regionals on Friday. Last week, Fox was named one of five finalists for the Naismith High School Player of the Year Award. The winner will be announced on March 10, and if it’s Fox, he’ll be only the second UK player to win Naismith High School POY honors behind Ron Mercer.
Accolades are nice, but is Fox truly ready to shoulder the expectations that come with being the “next great Calipari point guard”?
“I feel like it should be pressure, but I don’t see it as pressure,” Fox said. “I’m going out and doing something I love. But honestly, any school, if you’re not performing, people will let you know. I feel like I should be fine, go out there and do what I’m supposed to do. I think we’ll have a good year next year.”
Especially with The General leading the way.