De’Aaron Fox surprised everyone when he was pictured with a buzzed head on social media less than a month into the NBA’s hiatus. Fox’s locks were iconic, and he was near unrecognizable after the makeover.

There was some speculation that Fox’s decision to cut his hair stemmed from lacking access to a barber during quarantine, but Fox revealed on a Zoom call last Wednesday that getting a buzzcut was already part of his plan once the season ended. It sounds like his former look required too much maintenance, and the Kings point guard is ready for a fresh start.

“I was going to cut my hair after the season, and then when we go into quarantine, I was like, ‘Yo, I’m done with it,’ so I cut it,” Fox said. “I called my barber, said he had class, and I was like, ‘Come after class.’”

What’s even more shocking than seeing Fox without his traditional hairstyle was learning that he plans on keeping this for the foreseeable future. Buzzed-cut Fox will be the look going forward, and one can only hope this causes opposing players as much confusion as it does for Kings fans.

“I’m gonna keep it short,” Fox said. “People have asked me, am I gonna grow my hair back out, and I’m not. That was years of doing that, and I’m not doing that again.”

While Fox has simplified his grooming, his teammate Harrison Barnes hasn’t been so lucky. Barnes committed to not shaving his beard back in December until the Kings got back to .500 or the season ended, and his pledge has lasted far longer than he could have ever expected.

It would seem that the hiatus gave Barnes an out to shave early given the uncertain status of the NBA season, but Barnes powered through and kept the beard while the league was shut down. The patches have at least filled out, giving Barnes a better look than at earlier points in the season.

“The beard is good, I think it’s plateaued a little bit,” Barnes told the media on Zoom call last Friday. “So it’s been nice from a management perspective, but I think I’m excited to hopefully, you know, shave it off when we make the playoffs, and we keep going from there.”

Whether or not the Kings qualify for the postseason after the eight seeding games and a potential play-in round, Barnes will have fulfilled his duty soon enough. In due time, the Kings starters will all be clean-shaven.