Domantas Sabonis on injury update against Nuggets

Domantas Sabonis was hit for Sacramento Kings at the start of the 2025-26 season. Not only did he miss time to start the year with a nagging hamstring injury, but the All-Star big man has also been dealing with a rib injury over the past week, putting his status in doubt for the matchup against Nikola Jokic and Denver Nuggets on Tuesday.

After consecutive games are missing against the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sabonis is back on the floor in Sunday’s 144-117 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Sabonis had 20 points and 13 rebounds in 30 minutes against the Wolves, but he didn’t seem composed at times, constantly clutching his ribs.

The Kings big man is now back on the injury report ahead of Tuesday’s game with Denver, and he is listed as suspicious to play with what is being labeled as a left rib contusion. The injury originally occurred on Nov. 3 against the Nuggets, a game the Kings lost 130-124 in Denver.

Whether or not Sabonis will miss his third game in Sacramento’s last four contests remains to be seen, as he will go through pregame warmups before a final decision is made on his status. It appears as though the Kings are treating Sabonis’ rib injury based on his pain tolerance.

If Sabonis is not limited in the pregame routine and says he wants to play, the Kings will likely commit.

The troubling aspect of this injury, which goes back to the pain tolerance aspect, is that Sabonis told the Sacramento Bee that experiencing difficulty breathing and “sharp stabbing” pain in the ribs. Although he played 30 minutes against the Timberwolves with this injury, Sabonis kept grabbing his left side because of it.

Without Sabonis on the court, the Kings were left very thin in their frontcourt.

Drew Eubanks has drawn back-to-back starts the last two times Sabonis has been sidelined with this rib injury, and rookie Maxime Reynaud has seen minutes in the frontcourt off the bench. Newly signed Precious Achiuva also provides Sacramento with additional depth, especially as a rebounder.

The Kings are currently 3-7 and sit near the bottom of the Western Conference standings. The team will make a final decision on Sabonis’ status before tipoff in Sacramento on Tuesday night.