Losing Kevin Huerter for the rest of the season was bad news but bearable. Keon Ellis was right there, ready to step into the starting lineup and improve the team’s defense. Then, Malik Monk went down with an MCL sprain and is expected to miss four to six weeks. That was a huge blow.
Monk has been one of the Kings’ best players all season long, providing important playmaking and a lot of scoring. He has been the team’s energizer all season long and won them several games. His production is incredibly difficult to replicate. Everyone has to up their game, especially the rest of the bench.
Sitting in seventh place in the West, the Kings are in a tough spot now, and losing Monk now could have serious implications for the team’s future. So, let’s look at four disastrous ripple effects Monk’s injury could cause for the Kings.
4. The Kings will struggle offensively for the rest of the season
Offense is what put the Kings on the map. This is a team built to score a lot. Sacramento ran the highest-scoring offense in league history at that point last season. This season, the offensive production has dropped. Bad shooting seasons from Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray hurt the team immensely.
They managed to stay afloat, however, and especially in March, the defense has been a big factor. Playing Keon Ellis and Davion Mitchell more at the guard spots while everyone else is locked in has changed the Kings’ defensive identity for the better.
The Kings currently rank tenth in defensive rating across the league in March. While this is a welcome change to see from a team that has struggled defensively, it is not enough. Sacramento’s three-point shooting has been terrible all month, and the team only scored more than 110 points in eight games. Twice, they didn’t even hit the 100-point mark.
The scoring has already been down all month, and losing Huerter and Monk only adds to that struggle. Especially Monk is a huge part of the Kings’ offense. He can score from all three levels, set up his teammates, change the trajectory of a game with an electric dunk, and take over games when the team needs him to do that.
Other than Fox, the Kings have no one who can replicate that. They also do not have any big scorers sitting on the bench now. Monk is the key to the Kings’ bench scoring. With him sidelined, that leaves Sacramento with Davion Mitchell, Trey Lyles, and Sasha Vezenkov, who both just returned from serious injuries, Chris Duarte, Alex Len, Kessler Edward, and JaVale McGee.
So, the Kings might very well struggle offensively without Monk for the rest of the season. They are not just missing someone who can put up huge numbers but also the majority of their bench scoring. In the team’s first test against the Jazz, the bench was solid, scoring 20 points behind Lyles and Mitchell. Against better teams, that might look very different, however, and the team will probably wish that Monk was there to just go out and get them a bucket.