Kings will be without Zach Lavine for at least one week

According to a team source, Zach LaVine is expected to be sidelined for at least a week with a moderate left ankle sprain.

BY BRENDEN NUNES

Dec 16, 2025, 4:23 PM Updated: 4:26 pm

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Injuries continue to limit the Sacramento Kings’ availability throughout their 2025-26 season. Domantas Sabonis remains sidelined, and right as Dennis Schroder returned to action, starting shooting guard Zach LaVine went down.

After getting off to a hot start Sunday afternoon in Minnesota, Sacramento’s leading scorer drove to the basket hard before rolling his left ankle. Attempting to play through the second quarter setback, LaVine tried to play through it before it was determined unideal to do so.

During the Kings’ Tuesday morning practice, a team source shared that LaVine had been diagnosed with a “moderate left ankle sprain” and would be re-evaluated in one week. Sacramento has four games within the week of this announcement.

Zach LaVine went to the locker room after rolling his left ankle on this play pic.twitter.com/CX9p9QUYZ9

— Kings on NBCS (@NBCSKings) December 15, 2025

As the only player on the team averaging upwards of 20 points (20.2 ppg), replacing LaVine’s scoring production is no easy feat. Scoring just 19 points in the fourth quarter after LaVine went down is a decent example, although they’ve had such collapses with him available as well.

Head coach Doug Christie has started rookie Nique Clifford in previous games, making him the likely favorite to start. But more scoring obligations fall on players who are more than comfortable embracing that burden, such as DeMar DeRozan, Russell Westbrook, Malik Monk, Dennis Schroder.

Hopefully, that leads to more looks for Keegan Murray as well, who has taken a notable step back in shot attempts after his aggressive start.

In other news, Sabonis’s re-evaluation timeline of 3-4 weeks is nearly complete; Thursday, December 18th, marks the four-week mark. He was a non-participant at Tuesday’s team practice, as the team shared that he is also battling an illness.

Christie and his players acknowledged the challenges of injuries, but all seem to embrace and understand the ‘next man up’ mentality.

If anything, some of the rostered players are probably jumping to get more minutes. Second-year guard Devin Carter, for example, has played just 86 minutes this season, with 21 coming just last week due to injuries ahead of him in the rotation.

There’s also Keon Ellis, who saw his second DNP-CD of the season on Sunday.

LaVine’s shot creation and three-point threat will be missed, but Sacramento may need to lean further into its youth as they attempts to stay afloat.

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“The grass is greener on this side,” De’Aaron Fox told Andscape when reflecting on his transition from being the franchise star of the Sacramento Kings to a new member of the San Antonio Spurs.

Fox is averaging 23.9 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.6 rebounds on 48/39/84 shooting for the Spurs this season. His latest 22-point performance came when San Antonio handed the Oklahoma City Thunder just their second loss in 26 games.

Following that NBA Cup Semifinals victory, the ninth-year guard reflected on the past and present with Andscape‘s Mark Spears.

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