John Calipari Had Ridiculous Excuse For De'Aaron Fox's Game 4 Mistake

San Antonio Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox has received plenty of blame for the team's Game 4 collapse against the New York Knicks. In fact, fans are creating fundraisers just to get rid of him.

Despite having a 106-105 lead with 13.1 seconds remaining in Game 4, Fox opted to take a contested layup over Knicks forward OG Anunoby instead of forcing him to foul. Anunoby ultimately blocked the shot and went down the other way make a game-winner. Although it was a foolish mistake from the veteran guard, he doubled down on his decision.

"You have to score," Fox said after the loss. "Try to get a layup, get up three [points], [and] force them to need a 3. OG made a good block."

Those remarks from Fox led to him receiving countless hateful messages on social media, make no mistake about it.

Fox's college coach, John Calipari, was sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden for Game 4. During an appearance on "The Dan Patrick Show," Coach Cal responded to all the fans criticizing his former point guard.

Calipari pointed out that Fox is dealing with a sprained ankle at the moment.

"Stop on De'Aaron Fox, he's playing with a high ankle sprain – probably shouldn't be playing," Calipari said. "He would normally dunk that layup – if he would've dunked it, he's the hero."

Fans are convinced Calipari's comments just made Fox's late-game blunder even worse than it already was.

"So Fox on a high ankle sprain still took the layup instead of slowing down and getting fouled. You do know this makes him look even worse right," one fan commented.

"If De'Aaron fox is playing with a high ankle sprain why was he saying he thought he could outrun OG and score?" a second fan asked.

"I respect John Calipari for defending his former player De'Aaron Fox but the ankle is located far away from the brain," another person replied. "It was one of the dumbest plays in sports history. Case closed."

Committed to De'Aaron Fox.

Financially speaking, the Spurs are married to Fox for the next four seasons. After all, he's got $221 million remaining on his contract.

With that being said, Spurs coach Mitch Johnson instilled confidence in his point guard during Friday's media availability.

"People will have their opinions. I don't care. I care about the people in our building and that locker room," Johnson told reporters. "De'Aaron Fox will have the basketball in his hands at the end of the game tomorrow. I have nothing but the upmost confidence that he's going to deliver for us like he's done countless times."

We'll see if Johnson's loyalty is rewarded in Game 5 on Saturday.

Copyright The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published June 13, 2026 at 11:44 AM.