De'Aaron Fox has been rising up the NBA Draft boards ever since his Kentucky Wildcats ousted Lonzo Ball and the UCLA Bruins from the NCAA Tournament back in March.
In that game, Fox hung 39 points on the Bruins and he recently told Sports Illustrated that he was motivated in part by LaVar Ball's constant jawing about his son Lonzo being the best guard in the sport.
Plain and simple, his mindset heading into that particular game was to "shut LaVar Ball up."
Per SI,
"Kill mode all the time," is how Fox described his mindset before the UCLA game in March. "Shut Lavar Ball up," is how he explains it a few months later.
"In the last year, he became relevant for some reason," Fox said. "When I knew Lonzo in high school, I’d never seen his dad before. He went crazy this year. I guess when your son a lottery pick, that gives you a lot of confidence."
Fox thinks Lonzo's opponents in the NBA will have a similar approach when going up against LaVar's eldest son.
"He put a target on his neck," Fox said.
Depending on which mock draft you look at, Fox is a potential Top-5 pick in the June 22nd draft.
You can check out Sports Illustrated's full piece on him right here.