During the 2026 season, it will be interesting to watch Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis return from injury after he missed a major portion of the 2025 season.
The Sacramento Kings are coming off a rough season where they missed the playoffs after posting an overall record of 22-60, which placed them 15th in the Western Conference.
While the West is very stacked, the Kings also struggled with injuries, and in particular, they were without forward Domantas Sabonis for several months down the stretch of the season due to a partially torn left meniscus.
Recently, ESPN put out a piece by NBA Insiders that talked about the biggest injury returns for the upcoming season, and Sabonis was on that list.
After getting injured earlier in the 2025 season, Sabonis chose to get surgery in February which has put him in a position to be able to return on time for the start of the 2026 regular season for the Kings.
At one point, Sabonis and the Kings were considering moving on, but after thinking deeper about it this offseason, both sides opted to stick together and head into the 2026 season with him as the starting center.
The reason that Sabonis is such a big injury return for the upcoming season, is that he has the ability to impact the game in a variety of ways which includes his scoring rebounding, and playmaking that he has consistently demonstrated throughout his career.
During the 2025 season, when Sabonis was healthy, he showcased his versatile skill set as he averaged 15.8 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 0.9 steals per game. Additionally, Sabonis was a fairly efficient scorer as he shot 54.3 percent from the field and 72.7 percent from the free-throw line.
Overall, Sabonis has proven to be a great player for the Kings on both ends of the floor with his ability to score and initiate offense as well as his ability to consistently rebound the ball and contest shots at the rim.
As far as the depth behind Sabonis, the Kings have three solid bigs in Precious Achiuwa, Maxime Raynaud, and Dylan Cardwell, who proved to be solid pieces off the bench and were solid when they had to step in for Sabonis last season.
With the roster healthy, Sabonis would start alongside forwards Keegan Murray and DeAndre Hunter, guard Zach LaVine, and rookie guard Darius Acuff Jr., which is a lineup that could be very entertaining throughout the season with Malik Monk coming off the bench.
So, heading into the 2026 season, with Sabonis coming back from injury, it seems the Kings are in a position to have a strong lineup in the frontcourt and could have an opportunity to be much more competitive in what is a very deep Western Conference.
