De’Aaron Fox ripped referees in tweet after loss to Lakers

Fox took to Twitter to vent his frustrations after. In a since-deleted tweet, Fox wrote, “Thought we were suppose to let the players decide the game.”

It was indeed a rough ending for the Kings, who did just about everything right on that final sequence, including getting the ball out of LeBron James’ hands and staying home on the Lakers’ shooters. While that may have been a foul by the strict definition of the rules, letting the referees determine such a close game like that makes for a generally bad policy and viewing product.

Lakers fans also had a gripe with the officiating down the stretch however. With 18.2 seconds left, Russell Westbrook was not given continuation after an intentional foul by Sacramento. With the Lakers up 133-132 at the time, Westbrook should have gotten an automatic two points with a chance for one more. Instead, he just got two free throws, splitting the pair, and allowing Fox to tie the game with a two-pointer on the next play.

Even with the loss, Fox and the Kings are still having a solid season at 20-18 (which is good for fifth in the West). Perhaps this was the universe’s way of evening out the score after the Kings narrowly escaped with a last-second win earlier in the week.