Sacramento Kings: Are The Medical & Training Staffs To Blame?
There is plenty of frustration to go around regarding the Sacramento Kings injury situation, but be careful who you begin to point fingers at.
There was more bad news released on the Sacramento Kings injury front on Tuesday afternoon. The team announced that Richaun Holmes would be sidelined further and re-evaluated in 2-3 weeks after receiving a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection on Monday evening to treat a labral tear in his shoulder.
While every team has to deal with their share of ailments, it is the way that the Kings have handled their transparency when it comes to injured players that have frustrations reaching a boiling point.
There has been evidence of solid work done by the team’s medical and training staff this season. De’Aaron Fox, the franchise’s prized player, made a much speedier than usual recovery from a Grade-3 ankle sprain that typically sidelines players for an average of 33 games. Fox missed just 16. Three of the four guys who have played in every game are regular starters, including Harrison Barnes who has played more basketball than any other King over the last year.
The Marvin Bagley and Richaun Holmes situations are different stories entirely.
Questions Surrounding Holmes and Bagley
Bagley has been in and out of the lineup after an extended rehab for a fractured thumb followed by a foot sprain that went from “mild” to “might miss the rest of the season” in severity. While the team was informing the fanbase and public that Bagley was working his way back from a minor injury, the second-year big man was on the bench in street clothes and a walking boot.
The confusion surrounding Bagley’s injuries are certainly concerning, given the valuable capital that the Kings used to draft him. But the team has actually performed worse with him in the lineup this season, granted 13 games is not exactly ample time to get in to any sort of rhythm.
Holmes, however, was arguably the Kings’ MVP before he injured his shoulder on January 6th. At first, Sacramento called it “shoulder soreness”, and that Holmes would miss some time but was essentially day to day. Fast forward five weeks and 16 games, and Holmes has yet to see the court.
When Vlade Divac addressed the media on Saturday he said Holmes was closer to returning than Marvin Bagley III. Bagley will be re-evaluated late next week and now Holmes might not be re-evaluated until early March.
— Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) February 11, 2020
Today’s news of Holmes lingering injury is certainly upsetting news for any slim hopes that the Kings have of climbing out of their hole. Yet, it is the shock of hearing about the severity of the injury after so much time. Why was the team, or the medical staff, or whoever is in charge, not telling us just how injured Holmes was from the start? Why were told less than one week ago that Holmes had a chance of returning in the game against the Heat?
Final Thoughts
The issue is this: either the medical and training staffs are showing incompetence by providing failed rehabs, or the franchise is being completely untransparent when it comes to player issues and ailments. Neither one of those is a good thing.
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Alas, it does beg the question as to who is at fault. The health staffs are easy targets to point fingers at, but it could very well be the franchise itself that is being unnecessarily secretive and the ones to blame. Either way, the Kings face a gaping hole in their frontcourt this season should Holmes and Bagley be shut down for the rest of the season.