Brooklyn Nets also added one more unfortunate injury on the evening as Danny Wolf goes down.
The race to potentially land the top pick in the 2026 NBA Draft came to a head at the Golden I center. Now the Brooklyn Nets are increasing their chances to earn No. 1, taking the 126-122 shootout loss on Sunday to the Sacramento Kings.
Brooklyn struggled to contain Malik Monk in the end, as he went on a late scoring rampage to deliver as astonishing 32 points off the bench. He even delivered 10 of his 32 during the final five minutes of the evening. Monk even nailed seven shots from 3-point land to bury the Nets.
Struggling to contain Monk wasn't the only setback, though. The Nets needed to operate without rising rookie big man Danny Wolf. The former Michigan star twisted his ankle in awkward fashion early and never returned.
Brooklyn is already rolling without leading scorer Michael Porter Jr. with an injured ankle. Another star rookie Egor Demin has a foot ailment which forced Brooklyn to shut him down for the rest of the season. Day'Ron Sharpe is one more season-ending injury too for Brooklyn.
The Nets still hung tight with the Kings. Until Nolan Traore stepped out of bounds that created the turnover during Brooklyn's final possession. That play even went under review and became upheld.
Brooklyn briefly got up 34-30 in the first quarter and then outscored the Kings 28-27 in the second. Sacramento, however, delivered a 28-20 advantage in the third quarter.
Ben Saraf continued his impressive March by leading the way with 22 points, which he hit during 29 minutes off the bench. Malachi Smith added 18 points in reserve duty. Tyson Etienne chipped in 14 as a bench player too.
Ziaire Williams scored 18 points to lead the starters for Brooklyn. Traore delivered 17 points. Wolf came close to double digits before his injury, settling for nine points in starting duty. Drake Powell added eight points.
Maxime Raynaud dueled with Saraf and ended his night scoring 22 points for the Kings' starters. Drew Carter added 16 points off the bench for Sacramento. Precious Achiuwa delivered 14 points for the Kings. Brooklyn held DeMar DeRozan to just 10 points on 3-of-7 shooting.
With the loss, Brooklyn is now 17-54 overall and now own a worse record than the Kings.
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