The Sacramento Kings, losers of 14 straight and at the bottom of the NBA standings, lost stars Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine to season-ending surgeries on Wednesday.
Sabonis, a three-time All-Star in the frontcourt, had an operation to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He had returned to action in mid-January after missing 27 games following the mid-November injury.
The 29-year-old averaged 15.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 29.7 minutes in 19 games (15 starts) this season.
LaVine, a two-time All-Star guard who turns 31 on March 10, had been in and out of the lineup for 10 games because of a tendon injury in his right hand before selecting surgery.
He last played on Feb. 6 in a home loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. LaVine averaged a team-high 19.2 points along with 2.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 31.4 minutes in 39 games (37 starts).
Kings coach Doug Christie said Wednesday of losing LaVine and Sabonis, “It makes it tough, man. You feel for Zach, you feel for ‘Domas’ because you know how much hard work they, and a professional athlete in general, puts in to what their life dream is of being successful.
“Unfortunate for us. It’ll be more opportunities for some of our young players to continue to develop and do it in high-leverage moments because we are here to win basketball games.”
Christie insisted the team is not tanking to improve its draft lottery odds.
“We want to win. That’s the bottom line,” the coach said. “We want the taste of winning for our guys so they understand that the hard work and the stuff that we focus on at practice and all the drills, that that stuff pays off and takes them into the offseason in a really good way.”
Sabonis and LaVine are the highest-paid players for the Kings (12-44), with LaVine having a $48.9 million player option next season and Sabonis having two years and $94 million remaining on his contract.
Sacramento hosts the Orlando Magic on Thursday night and a 15th straight loss would set a franchise record for futility. The franchise twice lost 14 games when it was known as the Cincinnati Royals.
Minnesota selected LaVine with the 13th overall pick of the 2014 NBA Draft out of UCLA.
LaVine, averages 20.7 points per game for his career, with 4.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 32.7 minutes and 1,632 career 3-pointers in 693 regular-season games (602 starts) for the Minnesota Timberwolves (2014-17), Chicago Bulls (2018-25) and Kings. He represented the Bulls at the 2021 and 2022 All-Star Games.
The Orlando Magic picked Sabonis with the 11th overall pick of the 2016 NBA Draft out of Gonzaga and traded him the same day to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For his career, Sabonis averages 16.1 points 10.7 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 30.8 minutes in 665 games (521 starts) for Oklahoma City (2016-17), Indiana Pacers (2017-22) and Kings (2022-present). He was an All-Star in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
–Field Level Media
