Let's talk about this common Sacramento Kings Playoff set moment of De'Aaron Fox from 2023. Yes, that's right the Kings and Playoffs actually became a thing after 16 long seasons.
On the surface it's just a common forgettable round one moment from the Kangz right? Wrong! This moment is less about the dollar value and all about the story.
The last row at Golden1 Center felt like the edge of the world that night — our backs literally against the wall, knees pressed against the seats in front of us, and our hearts beating in the same rhythm as the crowd’s chant. I was there with team fan community co-captain SquareBear, shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of strangers who felt like family. When De’Aaron Fox took over that home opener, it wasn’t just a play; it was the sound of sixteen seasons breaking at once.
You could feel the city leaning in. The arena’s lights sharpened, the purple glow pooled like a promise, and then the Beam lit inside and out cutting through the Sacramento night sky. That beam wasn’t decoration; it was a declaration.
The Moment:
For the first time a Top Shot moment carried the arena’s heartbeat into the streets. I remember thinking about the logistics the great Austin Kent of SLAM Magazine and formerly of NBATopShot had explained to me — the calls to the city, the county, the Kings, the arena — and how rare it was to capture that external arena footage. It made the moment feel like a small miracle stitched together by the TopShot team and their partnership with the NBA who believed a memory could be made visible.
This moment also features a team mascot! Other than the Aaron Gordon all-star classic slam dunk contest moment this is the first and only moment (I believe) to truly feature a mascot at the beginning of the moment with the fans. Slamson the mascot rose to the rafters with the “Feel The Roar” banner unfurling behind him, and the decibel meter on fire. The camera angles and footage that Top Shot used caught all of it — the player and the play, the city, the fans, the beam — and turned seconds into a story that could be owned and replayed forever.
The Play:
"De’Aaron Fox’s first career playoff game coincided with the Sacramento Kings’ first postseason contest since 2006. Fox shined in Game 1 of the First Round against the defending-champion Golden State Warriors as he knocked Draymond Green off balance with a slick crossover before burying a midrange pull-up jumper. The sixth-year first-time All-Star guard lit the beam for long-suffering Kings fans as his 38 points — 29 in the second half, along with five assists and three steals in the game — were the second-most ever for a player making his playoff debut in the 126-123 victory on April 15, 2023."
Fox’s quickness and twitchyness gets Draymond Green backpedaling unable to recover and Swipa drains the shot in that fools face.
Why collect?
Owning that moment on Top Shot isn’t about price tags or market chatter. It’s about the story and iconic new never done before things that NBATopShot did with it that no other collectible could.
For myself it's about the way my throat tightened when the Kings’ beam lit the night sky and the way SquareBear and I high-fived like we’d been part of something sacred.
For outside looking in collectors, It’s about the conversation with Austin Kent, who told me how rare it is to secure those external shots, and how every permission granted felt like a vote of confidence in NBATopShot and Sacramento’s story.
For Kings fans, even though Fox has moved on, that season — Beam Team 1.0 — lives in the way we tell the story. The moment is a collector’s piece not because it’s rare, but because it’s honest. It captures a team, a player, a mascot, a city, and a fanbase all at once. It tells the story of a drought ending and a community remembering how to celebrate. When I watch it, I’m back in that last row, the wall at my back, the crowd pressing forward, the beam slicing the sky. I can still hear the echo of the light the beam chant that made grown men cry.
This is more than a highlight. It’s a memory that glows — inside the arena and out. I am Sacramento Proud — Light That Mothafukin Beam.
