$165 million—that’s the amount De’Aaron Fox reportedly turned down this week as he and his agent, Rich Paul, aim for a more lucrative contract next summer. With two years remaining on his current deal, the point guard could sign a four-year, $229 million extension after the next season. In a best-case scenario, that number could rise to $345 million over five years. However, NBA legend Nick Young believes Fox might need to leave town to secure a supermax extension.

Well, in order to get the supermax deal, Fox will have to fulfil the criteria of making the All-NBA team this season. Unfortunately, Swaggy P does not see it happening, “He ain’t gonna make it.” And that’s in no way a knock against Fox. In fact, he is one of the best guards in the league and even averaged a career high 26.6 points last season. But that didn’t even get him an All-Star selection, let alone an All-NBA nod.

And Young knows what Fox needs to do to avoid such snubs, “He gets snubbed too much, like people disrespect De’Aaron Fox too much. I think he probably gotta get out of Sacramento to tell you the truth.” While Fox has been an elite player his entire career, it has been for a team that has not achieved any playoff success in recent years. And Young believes playing in Sacramento might be De’Aaron’s curse, “He been there too long. I don’t know. To me, De’Aaron Fox should be for sure a top five Point Guard in this league… He don’t get no credit for what he’s doing. I think it’s just because its Sacramento I don’t know. Like you go to Sacramento, that’s like the last you know, you done after that… It’s a graveyard.” And ex-NBA star Rashad McCants also agrees with Young.

Rashad McCants believes Kings’ off season moves will stand in the way of De’Aaron Fox’s All-NBA selection

Similar to what Young said on the Gil’s Arena podcast, McCants also put a condition on Fox meeting the supermax criteria, “If everybody in the league scoring goes down and production goes down, he could have a chance.” Well, Fox didn’t make the cut last season even though he was the star of his team. And his production is likely to decrease this year with the Kings adding DeMar DeRozan to the roster. Considering the scenario, Rashad said, “I think for him, he won’t do it. He won’t make the All-NBA. But I think he has a better chance of taking them further in the playoffs.”

Yes, the Kings finished as the ninth seed last season and missed the playoffs. But now that they have an upgraded squad, Fox could lead them to a higher seed and deep into the playoffs. And that might also be his ticket to getting the much-needed All-NBA nod. Discussing if bagging the third seed would do the job for Fox, McCants claimed, “That’s All-NBA. Taking your team and putting them in a position to win shows your value as a player in the league.”

While Fox bypassed the $165 million offer, he has been vocal about building a future in Sacramento, “We wanna continue to build towards being a championship team.” So, leaving the team might for more money not be his preferred option. Sure enough, that leaves him with the only option of having a successful season and making a deep playoff run so that he can bag maximum money while staying with the Kings. Thoughts?