De’Aaron Fox returns in loss to Timberwolves after Kings make trade for Domantas Sabonis
De’Aaron Fox returned to the lineup against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday after missing eight games with an ankle injury, but the Kings lacked manpower after making a blockbuster trade to acquire two-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis earlier in the day.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the Timberwolves to a 134-114 victory over the Kings at Golden 1 Center. Malik Beasley came off the bench to score 21 points for the Timberwolves (29-25), who have won five in a row.
Fox finished with 29 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes for the Kings (20-36), making 11 of 22 field-goal attempts and 4 of 6 from 3-point range. He had not played Jan. 19 due to left ankle soreness.
“I was definitely tired, for sure,” Fox said. “You can’t match game intensity, but you’re going to get hit. You’re going to get kneed. You’re going to get elbowed. Those things are part of the game, but other than that my body is fine.”
The Kings were extremely shorthanded after finalizing a trade that sent Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb and a 2023 second-round draft pick. In addition, center Richaun Holmes was a late scratch due to personal reasons, Marvin Bagley III missed his fifth consecutive game due to a left ankle sprain and Maurice Harkless left the game in the first half with a right ankle injury.
Sabonis, Holiday and Lamb all arrived in Sacramento on Tuesday. Interim Kings coach Alvin Gentry said he had met with his new players, but he did not know if they would be available when the Kings play the Timberwolves against Wednesday.
“I’m not real sure,” Gentry said. “I just saw them for a couple minutes, so we’ll see. I don’t know what the exact protocol or procedure is, but obviously we’re looking forward to having them on the team and having them start to play and try to figure some things out.”
With Haliburton, Hield and Thompson all headed to Indiana, and with Holmes and Bagley both out of the lineup, the Kings started Fox with rookie Davion Mitchell, Harrison Barnes, Harkless and Damian Jones. Barnes had 21 points and six rebounds for Sacramento. Jones had 18 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots, going 9 of 11 from the field.
The Timberwolves shot 48.1% from the field and made 22 of 44 from 3-point range while amassing a 49-38 rebounding advantage. The Kings shot 49.4%, but they were 9 of 25 (.360) from 3-point range with 19 turnovers. The Timberwolves outscored the Kings 23-12 on second-chance points and 29-9 on fastbreak points.
“Every time we turned the ball over, and they were live turnovers, they either got a 3-point shot or a dunk out of it,” Gentry said. “Those are the kind of things that you just can’t — if you’re going to beat this team — you can’t have those kinds of things happen.”
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 10:26 PM.
