Domantas Sabonis has avulsion fracture in thumb, where do Kings go from here?

The question might linger in Sacramento for a while. Why was Domantas Sabonis still in the game when the Kings were down 17 points with three minutes remaining in Friday’s loss to the Washington Wizards?

With a few days off, Brown likely wanted to give his team one last shot to climb into the game, but the consequences of that decision could haunt the Kings for weeks.

Sabonis, per team relase, damaged the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb when he placed his hand in the lower back of Bradley Beal. Sabonis instantly grabbed at the area, checked out of the game and headed straight to the locker room where the Kings had him undergo an MRI following the loss. The MRI revealed an avulsion fracture at the ligament, which means that a small chunk of bone attached to the ligament broke loose.

According to a league source, Sabonis will forego surgical options at this time with the hopes of returning to the court in the coming days. He will attempt to play through the injury, but will be reassessed if the pain becomes too much or his effectiveness is hampered.

The injury, which is also known as “Gamekeeper’s thumb” or “Skier’s thumb” causes swelling and pain in the base and webbing of the thumb. Sabonis isn't the first NBA player to have the injury and others have played through it, including Chris Paul and Avery Bradley.

For now, he is officially listed as questionable for Tuesday's game against Denver, although he will likely struggle to grip a ball with his right hand while the recovery from the injury runs its course.

Sabonis is tough as nails, but this is an injury that is very difficult to hide, especially for a physical big man who is constantly taking hits in the post. The good news is that Sabonis is left-handed.

What does this mean for the Kings?

Any injury to Sabonis is a worst case scenario for Sacramento, although they may have dodged a bullet with this one. The star center is so much more than his numbers for the Kings, and his teammates know that.

“It’s going to take everybody, it’s going to take a village to make up for the production that’s going to be missing from him,” De’Aaron Fox said.

Sabonis is currently leading the NBA in rebounds per game and double-doubles. His 6.7 assists per game leads the squad and 17.9 points rank second on the team.

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