UrbanUpdate

From the moment he announced that he would jump to the NBA after a single stellar season at Kentucky, life for newly-minted Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox has moved at a dizzying pace. The 19-year-old flashed some of the elite potential in Summer League that convinced Sacramento to take him with the draft’s fifth overall selection, and as NBA training camps finally get set to open next week, we sat down with Fox to learn how the rookie is preparing his body for his first season as a pro—and, in the meantime, how surreal it is to finally play NBA 2K as yourself.

GQ: You’ve been working pretty much non-stop since announcing you were leaving college: finishing classes, training, the draft, and then Summer League. How have you spent the rest of your post-Vegas summer?

De'Aaron Fox: I really just have been working out—I’ve been really focused on getting my body right. I took a little time off when Summer League ended, but after that, I got back to work.

After finishing the semester at Kentucky, you went straight to pre-draft prep in Southern California. Did your body have to make any adjustment to pro-level training?

Not necessarily. The only difference was that I was working out a lot more. You have a lot more time on your hands, and you don’t have to be busy with school. You’re able to get in the gym a lot more often.

What changes have you made to your diet as you transition from college basketball to the NBA?

I haven’t made any major changes. I really don’t eat fast food, and I didn’t do it that much in college, so that hasn’t really been hard. I’ve just been getting a lot more protein and carbs in my system, and drinking a lot more water. That’s one thing I did change once I declared for the draft—you play so many games in the NBA, and you have to stay hydrated.

What was your gameday meal routine at Kentucky?

On Saturday, the game is usually at 7 o’clock. I would wake up and have breakfast with the team, usually at 9 or 10—[Coach Cal] didn’t want us to be up early on game days. I drank more water than usual, and always snacked, too, just to keep eating. We had our team meal four hours before the game. So, for a game at 7 o’clock, we ate at 3. There was steak, fish, and salmon, and pancakes, in case someone—like me—likes breakfast food. We left for the arena two hours before the game, and I would have one more snack an hour before tipoff. And we always had food after the game, too. If we were at home, we had something prepared, and if we were away, we had something brought in.

Did you have a routine of eating the same meals before games?

With breakfast, it varied, but for my pregame meal, I always had steak and pancakes. I don’t know if that’s a weird combination, but it worked for me: two small pieces of steak and a big pancake, four hours before the game. I would snack on things like peanuts, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and fruit snacks.

What’s your schedule like now, as training camp opens in just over a week?

We have cooks at the facility that make breakfast for us, but sometimes, I’ll eat something small before I get there, and then eat a full breakfast when I arrive at 10. We start lifting at 11, and are on the court around noon. We work out for about an hour and a half, or just play pickup. After that, once you get some shots up, the rest of the day is yours. All of our young guys have been working out together for about a month. The vets got here last week.

As you mentioned, there’s a lot of free time outside the gym, and I know you’re a gamer—what was it like to see yourself in 2K, and to score a decent rookie rating? [Ed. note: 77 overall!]

It’s crazy just seeing myself in the game, first of all, and to see how accurate the features are. The first thing I did was play as myself. I don’t have to create myself anymore!

You and teammate Justin Jackson are both from Houston, and you both pledged to return at some point to play in a charity game raising funds for Hurricane Harvey disaster relief.

We’re still working on that. It will be after this [upcoming] season, sometime next summer. It takes a while to get everything organized. It will be something special—I don’t have all the details yet, but we’re all working on it.

You rarely see rookies get in front of those types of initiatives. What made you want to do something more than just donate to a charity?

It’s to help set an example. Making a donation was the easy part, but I’m really in a position where I can do something like [organize a charity game]. Growing up in Houston, I know that so many kids look up to me. The city is really bouncing back, and I’m just trying to help out as much as I can whenever I can be there.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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