Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee and will be reevaluated in three to four weeks, the team announced Thursday.
Sabonis missed Wednesday night’s loss in Oklahoma City with what the team deemed left knee soreness suffered in a loss to the Spurs on Sunday. Further testing revealed the tear, sidelining Sabonis at least into deep December and sending the Kings further into an early-season spiral.
“Not happy. Feel for him obviously,” Kings coach Doug Christie said Thursday. “We need the big fellow, but it’s the nature of what we do, and we know that when we sign up. It’s unfortunate. Love him and hopes he gets well soon.”
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Sabonis has been banged up much of the first month, missing the opener after a hamstring strain in the preseason. He also missed two games earlier this month with a rib issue. Now he’ll miss at least the next 10 games because of the meniscus tear.
“The ability to play through him is huge because not a lot of bigs can make the type of decisions that Domas makes,” Christie said. “The touch of the bounce passes. …There’s just so many different things that he brings. We play through Domas.”
The Kings traded Tyrese Haliburton for Sabonis in February 2022, a risky deal for a franchise attempting to hit fast-forward on a rebuild in an effort to break a 16-year playoff drought.
Sabonis did aid in that, powering the Kings to the third seed in 2023 as the co-star next to De’Aaron Fox in Mike Brown’s first season as coach. Sabonis has been a pillar of durability in Sacramento, playing in 79, 82 and 70 games the past three seasons.
But things fell apart quickly after that lone playoff run. Brown was fired, Fox was traded and now Sabonis is left as the highest-paid player — three years, $146.8 million left on his deal — on one of the more disappointing teams in basketball.
The Kings (3-13) have lost eight consecutive games by double digits, the latest a 137-96 rout by the Grizzlies on Thursday night.
