There are a lot of issues the Sacramento Kings need to address before they can be remotely relevant in the league. To even get close to doing that, they definitely needed to move on from the endless injuries of last season. It hasn't slowed down, and will play havoc with the Kings in 2026-2027.
While player conditioning and workload management can help mitigate potential injuries, the vast majority of them are highly unpredictable. That's certainly been the case with the Kings over the last couple of seasons. Just look at De'Andre Hunter's freak eye incident in his second game as a King.
The hope for this season had to be that the Injury Clause wouldn't leave so many injured players under Doug Christie's bench this season. Well, Doug has apparently been a naughty boy as the preseason was absolutely brutal from that perspective.
Sacramento's cavalcade of injured players continues
As it stands right now, the worst of them is Ben Simmons. That's from the dual perspective of the severity and also tortured irony. Simmons had barely returned from his nagging back injury recovery to tear an Achilles and lose another season. That's just terrible luck at this point.
Maxime Raynaud got taken out by Stephen Curry of all people. Their knees connected, damaging one of Raynaud's patella. There's no timeline for the sophomore big man's return, but he will likely miss multiple games in the early weeks of the season. Honestly, it could have been much worse.
On top of that, Dylan Cardwell has a strained calf, Precious Achiuwa has an injured ankle, and both Malik Monk and Keegan Murray have something the Kings are calling "ankle soreness." That last one feels weirdly vague, almost like the Kings are looking for a reason to keep those two off the court.
Sacramento's injury scenario could get worse
Simmons is done for the season, but the other five should all be back as their issues clear up. Assuming they're all out for the opening game of the season, that could potentially leave the Kings down six players. Well, seven if they haven't replaced the recently waived Adam Flagler.
This is not a great way to start out 2026-2027. There is a very real chance this scenario just keeps getting worse for Sacramento. Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, and more are all returning from major injuries last season. If anything gets reaggravated, they could end up back on the bench.
A big concern has to be Darius Acuff Jr. If Monk stays off the court, Acuff quite literally has no back up. That means a lot of minutes and a lot of pressure on the rookie. That's the kind of scenario that generates injuries. If that happens, this season for the Kings is an absolute wash.
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