Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee and will be re-evaluated in three to four weeks, sources told ESPN's Shams Charania on Thursday.
Sabonis missed Wednesday night's loss in Oklahoma City with what the team deemed left knee soreness. Further testing revealed the tear, sidelining Sabonis into deep December at least and sending the Kings (3-12) further into an early season spiral.
He has been banged up much of the first month, missing the opener after a hamstring strain in the preseason. He missed two games earlier this month with a rib issue. Now he'll miss at least the next 10 games because of a meniscus tear.
The Kings traded Tyrese Haliburton for Sabonis back in February of 2022, a risky deal from 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 last three seasons.
But the situation 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 have lost seven consecutive games by double digits.
