The Kings will be without their starting center for the rest of the 2025/26 season, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports (via Twitter) that Domantas Sabonis underwent surgery on Wednesday morning to repair the meniscus tear in his left knee.
Sabonis is one of two Kings stars to undergo season-ending surgery on Wednesday. As previously reported, guard Zach LaVine is going under the knife to repair a tendon tear in his right fifth finger. That procedure is happening right now, tweets James Ham of The Kings Beat.
Sabonis suffered that left meniscus tear back in November and originally opted for a non-surgical treatment plan, rehabbing the injury and returning to action a couple months later, in mid-January.
However, upon returning, Sabonis appeared in just eight of Sacramento’s 15 games heading into the All-Star break and played a relatively limited role (24.9 minutes per game). With the Kings well out of the playoff race and the big man seemingly not all the way back to 100%, he and the team apparently determined that it made sense to address the injury via surgery now in order to make sure he’s back to full health for 2026/27.
An All-NBA third-teamer in 2023 and 2024, Sabonis led the NBA in rebounds per game for three straight years from 2023-25. In 19 games (15 starts) this season, he averaged 15.8 points, 11.4 boards, and 4.1 assists in 29.7 minutes per night.
The Kings went just 3-16 in the games Sabonis played and haven’t been much better without him (9-28). Sacramento ranks dead last in the NBA with a 12-44 mark.
There are several more injury updates out of Sacramento ahead of the team’s matchup with Orlando on Thursday:
- Forward Keegan Murray, who has been out since January 4 due to a sprained ankle, said today that he’s ready to return, according to Ham (Twitter link). Murray, who signed a lucrative long-term extension with Sacramento last fall, has been limited to just 19 outings this season due to injuries.
- Shortly after being converted from his two-way deal to a standard contract, rookie big man Dylan Cardwell has been ruled out for at least four weeks due to a sprained left ankle, tweets Ham. Cardwell, who’s scheduled to be reevaluated in one month, sustained the injury at the team’s practice facility. With Sabonis and Cardwell unavailable, Maxime Raynaud, Precious Achiuwa, and Drew Eubanks figure to man the five for the Kings.
- After missing Sacramento’s last three games before the break due to left eye iritis, forward De’Andre Hunter was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice, tweets Ham. Hunter seems likely to be available on Thursday vs. Orlando.
The tank continues
Tankathon is 100% in full force…
Sabonis got a torn meniscus months ago and he and the Kings decided to let it “naturally heal” avoiding surgery. Obviously, this is a tanking move where Sabonis misses way more time then he needs to. Great timing lol
Season of the tank !!
Kings, Mavs, Pacers, Jazz, Wiz, Nets, Griz, Pels..
If Steph or the unicorn goes down in the next 2-3 weeks, you can count on the Pat Spencer, Will Richard show the rest of the way too.
The Pelicans aren’t tanking because the Hawks pretty much own their pick (best of NO/MIL). They just suck
OK, that makes sense. Thanks for pointing it out.
It’s crazy that All these teams are taken when I just see low level All Stars in this draft. Everybody keeps saying it’s a deep draft and it’s deep with players that will stick around in the NBA but not with talent. That will actually win you an NBA championship without other pieces.
Jazz, hornets shouldn’t be tanking And should be pushing in for a play in game. They should get fine a million dollars every time they sit healthy players. They’ve been tanking for years and never received multiple top five draft picks.
Kings, wiz, nets and grizzly- I’m okay with these teams tanking because their teams just really aren’t good enough.
Mavs, pels and pacers- should be doing a soft tank meaning they’re not good enough for the playoffs so they can play young guys but they should not be in the bottom 4 of the lottery.
Hornets aren’t tanking and are pushing for the play-in/playoffs. The Jazz are tanking because they have been unlucky in the draft every year. Their plan is to stop after this season.
2025: Ace Bailey (5th)- all NBA potential and there is no one in this draft with the same upside
2024: Cody Williams (10th), Isaiah Collier (29th) both players have showed improvement one is a low starter or development into a 6th man
2023: Taylor Hendricks (9th), Keyonte George (16th), Brice Sensabaugh (28th) traded for JJ(all star defense player of the year) all start potential 22 points per game. Brice is a good bench/low lever starter.
So no they don’t need to tank with Luri and Kessler.
It’s humans being humans: groupthink, conformity, falling for the hype by the “experts”, calling a draft “great” due to a few individual players. Nothing new.
Maybe this will be a great draft; I haven’t studied it enough to know one way or another (I save that for the offseason). But one thing I do know is 85% of the people assuming it will be are only doing so due to one or more of the above factors. The remaining 15% are the ones who are both knowledge enough and unbiased enough to be taken more seriously.
What makes you think the unicorn was going to play anyway?
Tuna, I thought he was going to give it a go with the Warriors this year? You heard he’s not?
I’m sure he’ll try. But he’s got POTS and frequently has heart rate issues now.
Let Russ play all the minutes, take all the shots …. great tanking strategy.
Finally embracing the tank
Which is the most Kings sentence ever. So bad without even trying to tank, now finally getting aboard the tank train a season too late.
Westbrook Tank Commander (I am a Westbrook supporter btw, and I think it’s good him taking control of the team for the rest of the season, he would be a great veteran example for the rebuild by hustle, relentlessness, quality, leadership and career accolades.
Lauri, Konchar and JJJ for LaVine, Hunter, Monk and their 1st
What do you expect the Kings to do. All they have is to play for next yr. Been saying it. It could trigger the Kings FankenStein ……. OooOohh.
Kings have the worst record today. This tells me they want to make sure they stay there. Imo I see the lottery as a strong class. Top 5 definitely has potential stars there. I get it. I would do same thing.
Since 2007 — This has been a steady failed franchise. When it comes to team building, finding talent.
2007 – #10 pick, 2008 #12 pick, 2009 #4 pick
2010 – #5 pick, 2011 #7 pick, 2012 #5 pick
2013 – #7 pick, 2014 #8 pick, 2015 #6 pick
2016 – #8 pick, 2017 #5 pick, 2018 #2 pick
2019 – No 1st rd pick, 2020 #12 pick, 2021 #9 pick
2022 – #4 pick, 2023 #24 pick, 2024 #13 pick
2025 – No 1st rd pick. Pick #42 Maxime Raynaud.
Thibs came to Knicks. He had two lottery picks. He was given RJ, already tgere. Then drafted Obi1 later. Yet he built the Knicks into a contender. Through smart drafting. And developing players into NBA players. It can be done.
Since 2007 Kings have had 16 Lottery Picks. Thats 16 lottery picks in 19 yrs.
link to basketball-reference.com