Kings center Domantas Sabonis returns vs. Nuggets; discusses possibility of thumb surgery
Kings center Domantas Sabonis returned to the lineup against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night with his injured right thumb heavily wrapped in tape.
In an interview with The Sacramento Bee before the game, Sabonis acknowledged that surgery could be required to repair the avulsion fracture in his thumb, but he hopes to avoid that course of treatment.
“I don’t know what I’m allowed to say,” Sabonis said. “For now, I’m just trying to play through it so I don’t have to do that procedure.”
Sabonis produced a valiant effort in a dramatic 127-126 victory over the Nuggets before a sellout crowd of 17,985 at Golden 1 Center, posting his 11th consecutive double-double with 31 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.
Malik Monk scored a season-high 33 points for the Kings (18-15), who will conclude a six-game homestand against the Utah Jazz on Friday. De’Aaron Fox had 31 points and 13 assists. Three players had 30-point games for just the third time in franchise history and the first time since 1979.
Nikola Jokic had 40 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Nuggets (22-12), who came in with the best record in the Western Conference.
The Kings trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half. They came back to win when Monk made the second of two free throws with 0.7 seconds remaining.
Fox and Monk said the Kings were inspired by Sabonis’ courageous return.
“It just makes us fight even harder for him because we know what kind of pain he’s in,” Monk said. “I know he’s hurting and that just makes us come together even more and fight as a team more. I think that’s why we got the win tonight.”
Fox agreed.
“He literally has a broken thumb,” Fox said. “Going out there and playing through that type of pain … it just shows his toughness and he wants to win. When he came here, it wasn’t just for the future. He wanted to come here and start winning games now, and as we get older, try to continue winning.”
Earlier this week, Sabonis was diagnosed with an avulsion fracture of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb, an injury he sustained in Friday’s loss to the Washington Wizards. Sabonis was held out of Tuesday’s 113-106 loss to the Nuggets, but he returned Wednesday for the second game of a back-to-back set.
Asked how the thumb was feeling, Sabonis said: “It’s good. It’s all right. It’ll do.”
Sabonis said he was just happy to be back in the lineup.
“It sucks being on the bench and watching in street clothes, so let’s hope everything goes good today and I can play through it,” Sabonis said.
According to the Mayo Clinic, an avulsion fracture occurs when a small chunk of bone attached to a tendon or ligament gets pulled away from the main part of the bone. Surgery is often required with recovery time sometimes ranging from 10 to 12 weeks, although Dr. Steven Shin, executive vice chair of Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics, has developed a procedure that can cut that time in half.
Sabonis said his ability to play through the injury will depend on pain tolerance. Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez, who is acting as head coach with Mike Brown out due to NBA health and safety protocols, said there is no question about Sabonis’ toughness.
“Obviously, I’m not inside his body to feel how his pain tolerance is,” Fernandez said. “But I know Lithuanians are very tough, and he also grew up in Spain, so if you mix those things up, I think that he’s really tough, so I think he’s going to play and he’s going to be OK.”
Nuggets coach Michael Malone also commended Sabonis for his toughness, noting that Nuggets forward Jeff Green will be out for a month with a sprained finger and a fracture in his left hand.
“Obviously, when you’re a big man and it’s a very physical game, I’m sure that hand is going to get hit,” Malone said. “That’s just the nature of the business. I look at Nikola (Jokic) sometimes when he has a sleeveless shirt on, and it looks like he’s been in a fight with a tiger. There’s just scratches and marks and bruises everywhere, so I think it speaks to Sabonis’ toughness, the fact that he’s willing to go out there and play in light of that injury.”
This story was originally published December 28, 2022 at 9:02 PM.
