Oct. 2, 2024—Cypress Lakes High School alumnus and NBA standout De’Aaron Fox visited his former campus on Sept. 24 to deliver a customized version of his new shoe, the Fox 1, to the varsity basketball teams.

The shoes, part of the Under Armour Curry Brand, were specially designed with the red and gray school colors, and even feature a Cypress Lakes logo on the back.

The Sacramento Kings star is the first NBA player to sign with Curry Brand.

“When we sat down with D at [2023] All-Star Weekend, we said he reminded us exactly of where Stephen Curry was when he was 25 years old,” said Nana Dadzie, director of marketing for Curry Brand. “Not just the athlete but the human being, and that is why he was the number one target for us to bring on because he matches up so closely with what our mission is—Change the Game for Good. In order to be an athlete on Curry Brand, you have to care about your community, care about home, be humble, but still be one of the baddest dudes on the court.”

Fox surprised the boys’ and girls’ basketball players by carting in boxes of the new shoes emblazoned with his new Fox 5 logo, then autographed them for each athlete.

“I appreciate you all and I wanted to make sure you saw me and saw the shoes before I got back to Sacramento,” he said. “These are shoes that are not coming out, not being sold anywhere. This is just for you.”

The first colorway of the shoes released to the public will be a holiday-themed shoe, Happy Fox Day, hitting shelves on Dec. 6. An alternate colorway will follow two weeks later, then a Kings-themed Light the Beam, according to Dadzie.

“De’Aaron stayed local to his community. He didn’t go off and do it, he took the ride with his friends. That makes him elite in this space,” said Charles Ament, CFISD associate athletic director. “A lot of times those kids are forgotten about because they try to do what’s right. For Curry Brand to give him a platform that’s worldwide excites us because we feel that he’s very deserving of it.”

The Spartans expressed gratitude to Fox for the donation.

“I think it’s really dope for him to be able to do this and bring us the only pairs of these in the whole country,” said Makennah Alexis, Cypress Lakes junior. “De’Aaron is an inspiration to us. He has a mural on the wall outside of our gym. He built a legacy here. We feel like if he can do it, we can do it too.”