Sacramento just struggled to a 2-4 record in the six games Domantas Sabonis missed with a hamstring strain. Now, it will have to get by without him for what may be weeks again.
Sabonis rolled his ankle on a drive to the basket in the opening minute of the second half and had to leave the game. It looked nasty.
Domantas Sabonis had to be helped to the locker room after appearing to injure his ankle while attempting a layup pic.twitter.com/fApbim3FYd
— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) March 18, 2025
Coach Doug Christie did not provide a postgame update, but Malik Monk summed it up well when speaking to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“It looked pretty bad. But Domas (is) strong. He’ll probably be back sooner than we think.”
The Kings need him to. For the season they are 3-6 in games Sabonis misses with a -3.8 net rating when he is off the court. The Kings sit ninth in the West and are headed to the play-in, but had hoped to catch the Clippers for the No. 8 seed and make their path to the playoffs easier. That was going to be tough with Sabonis, the Kings are 3.5 games back of Los Angeles with 15 games to play, but without him it’s an Everest-like mountain. The Kings are not likely to fall out of the play-in, they have a two-game lead over the injury riddled Mavericks for the No. 10 seed, with Phoenix 11th and three games back, and the Trail Blazers five games behind the Kings.
Sabonis also may want to return for personal reasons — he has played in just 58 games this season, and he needs to play at least seven more (and 20 minutes a night in those games) to reach the 65-game threshold set by the NBA to be eligible for post-season awards. Sabonis is undoubtedly in the mix for an All-NBA spot if he qualifies.
The ankle wasn’t even Sabonis’ first injury in the game. Sabonis had to get stitches for a cut over his left eye after he was hit in the face by the back of Grizzlies’ guard Luke Kennard’s head. Sabonis returned to the game, only to roll his ankle.
