The Sacramento Kings‘ chances for a bid in the NBA play-in tournament suffered a blow when center Domantas Sabonis left Saturday night’s matchup with the Houston Rockets just over a minute into the game with an apparent left hamstring injury.
Sabonis sustained the injury at the 1:15 mark cutting down the lane for a pass before slowing down and grabbing at the back of his left leg. He attempted to stay in the game and moved to defend Alperen Şengün in the post before gingerly stepping out of bounds.
Kings coach Doug Christie promptly called timeout and Sabonis needed help getting off the court. He was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Jonas Valančiūnas replaced Sabonis in the Kings’ lineup, scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds in 14 minutes. Meanwhile, Şengün has capitalized with Sabonis out of the game, tallying 17 points, four rebounds and four assists in the first half.
Sabonis, 28, is having a career-best season for the Kings, averaging 19.9 points and 14.4 rebounds while shooting 43% on 3-pointers in 55 games. In nine NBA seasons, he’s averaged 16.1 points, 10.6 rebounds and 36% shooting from long range.
Going into Saturday’s game, Sacramento held the No. 10 spot in the Western Conference standings with a 30-20 record. The Kings were three games ahead of the Phoenix Suns for the West’s final play-in bid. Sacramento has won two consecutive games and five of its past seven.
