Sacramento Kings extend winning streak while another Dallas Mavericks star suffers injury
The Sacramento Kings on Monday secured their second-longest winning streak of the season.
The run of victories extended to four after the Kings took care of the shorthanded Mavericks, whose season took another disastrous turn when Kyrie Irving’s left leg landed awkwardly on a drive to the basket late in the first quarter.
Irving was quickly ruled out with a knee sprain after only 9:25 on the floor — and the Mavericks finished the night looking like a team coping with the potential loss of their best scorer for a prolonged period.
The Kings came away with a 122-98 blowout win, which was cemented during a 34-16 third quarter when the lead stretched as big as 30. Many Mavericks fans, who were subject to the shocking Luka Doncic trade, Anthony Davis’ injury during his Dallas debut and fall from fifth in the standings in January, left their seats with 12 minutes remaining.
Sacramento never trailed in the game. Dallas remains 10th in the West. All five of the Mavericks’ starters scored in single digits while all the Kings’ starters were in double digits through three quarters.
The Kings had won three consecutive games five previous times this season. The only run that lasted longer was the seven-game streak from Dec. 30 to Jan. 12. They’ll look to extend the streak to five Wednesday against the surging Denver Nuggets, who are third in the conference at 39-22.
The Mavericks were coming in having lost three of their last four. They continued to feel the absences of Davis (adductor strain), center Dereck Lively II (ankle stress fracture), center Daniel Gafford (right knee sprain), forward PJ Washington (right ankle sprain) and Caleb Martin (right hip strain).
The Kings went 12-12 from the free-throw line, marking their first perfect game from the stripe this season.
Top performers
Zach LaVine scored 22 points while going 8 of 12 from the floor and 4 of 5 from 3-point range. He continued his recent efficiency that earned national recognition earlier in the day.
DeMar DeRozan had 20 points and Keegan Murray had 18 while making 4 of 8 from distance. Jonas Valanciunas continued his strong play, posting 14 points and nine rebounds while starting in place of the injured Domantas Sabonis. Malik Monk added 13 points and eight assists.
The Mavericks’ leading scorer was Kai Jones with 21. Naji Marshall added 18.
Irving leaves with injury
The Mavericks’ nightmare string of injuries continued.
Irving, Dallas’ remaining star player while Davis remains sidelined, tumbled to the floor after a drive to the lane and couldn’t put any weight on his left leg. Irving was quickly ruled out with a left knee sprain, the Mavericks announced.
American Airlines Center went quiet while Irving received attention from the Mavericks training staff. He couldn’t put any weight on his left leg when he was helped to his feet. He stayed in to shoot free throws, and hit both, but the Mavs were called for a technical foul when a staffer went on to the court to try helping Irving off before a timeout was called.
Irving was helped off the court by Davis and a staffer. His free throws cut Sacramento’s lead to 24-18 with 2:35 remaining.
Adding to Dallas’ already long list of injuries, guard Jaden Hardy left the game early in the third quarter with an apparent leg injury. Hardy was the Mavericks’ second-leading scorer with eight points when he got hurt.
Monk returns after early exit
Moments after Irving left the court, Monk limped off the floor late in the first quarter.
Monk had his right foot stepped on, but he was cleared to return to the game. Monk left with three points on 1-of-4 shooting.
Halftime report
The Kings had seven assists on their first seven baskets of the game. They finished the first quarter with 10 assists on 11 made field goals with just two turnovers.
Three Kings were in double figures at the break as they took a 60-50 lead. DeRozan and Murray each had 15 points while LaVine had 14 on 5-of-8 shooting. The Kings shot 51% from the floor and made 7 of 15 (46.7%) from 3-point range. Their strong ball movement continued with 16 assists to only four first-half turnovers.
Jones, who signed a two-way contract with the Mavericks before Monday’s game, scored 13 points in nearly 16 minutes.
LaVine named Player of the Week
The NBA announced Monday that LaVine was named Western Conference Player of the week, which marked the first time he’s earned the nod in his 11-year career.
LaVine for the week of Feb. 24 through March 2 averaged 28.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists while shooting 62.3% from the floor and 63.6% on 3-pointers. Sacramento went 3-0 during the stretch.
The struggles for LaVine when he first arrived to Sacramento appear to be in the rear view mirror. In his last five games, LaVine is shooting 51% on 8.2 attempts from distance per game. He shot just 21% in his first five games.
“I think more than anything, with Zach, it’s been his ability to try to mesh with everybody,” Kings interim coach Doug Christie said before tipoff. “Which is super respectable because not everybody tries to do that, I thought, even maybe to a fault sometimes.
“Like, be aggressive,” Christie continued. “Do your thing, and we’ll figure it out. So for him, super proud of him and for him first and foremost. His ability to score on every level and finding his way while doing that while the plane’s in the air is pretty impressive.”
Valanciunas fills in for Sabonis
No Kings player came into Monday’s game with a higher offensive rating than Valanciunas, who should expect to see an expanded role while Sabonis deals with a hamstring injury suffered Saturday in Houston.
Sacramento was scoring 119.7 points per 100 possessions with Valanciunas on the floor in his first nine games after being acquired from the Washington Wizards for Sidy Cissoko and second-round picks in 2028 and 2029.
“I got big shoes to fill,” Valanciunas said after shootaround Monday morning in Dallas. “He was playing great. So I gotta just step on the gas and do what he does — rebound, protect the basket. We all got to step up.”
The Kings added Valanciunas to help spell Sabonis after he averaged more than 36 minutes per game before the All-Star break. That number has dropped slightly to 34 minutes per game in the eight games since Valanciunas joined the rotation, not including Saturday when Sabonis left 1:16 into the game.
Christie before Monday’s game credited Valanciunas’ intangibles for fitting in and helping the offense play efficiently in Sabonis’ stead.
“There’s gravity in everything that he does,” Christie said.
Christie likened the dynamic of Sabonis and Valanciunas’ differing styles to his playing days, noting that Vlade Divac and Chris Webber had different passing styles, which took practice time to get used to.
“But we would only get that if we cared about each other enough to figure it out. ... And I think that’s what JV brings,” Christie said.
The Kings announced Sunday that Sabonis had a grade 1 hamstring strain and would be reevaluated in a week.
This story was originally published March 3, 2025 at 8:13 PM.
