Domantas Sabonis said after practice that he feels good, and the Sacramento Kings are taking a cautious approach as the regular season arrives. After an 0-5 preseason, the team is trying to avoid pushing veterans too hard before the games count.
Sabonis did not sound alarmed. He said, “No no no, everything’s good. Just playing it smart. We’ve had a couple years, and especially with a couple bigs going down, we just want to be smart.” It was the clearest sign yet that the Kings are treating recovery as part of the plan, not an afterthought.
That matters because Sabonis is not the only one coming back from injuries. Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray and Ben Simmons are also working back, while Malik Monk remains a question heading into the season. For a team whose success is expected to hinge on health, that is a lot of uncertainty for the opening stretch.
The roster also looks different enough that chemistry will have to be built on the fly. Russell Westbrok and DeMar DeRozan are gone, while Darius Acuff Jr. and Ben Simmons have joined, leaving the Kings with a mix that does not have much time to settle before the schedule turns real. The starters reportedly looked out of sorts in their first time playing together against the San Antonio Spurs, which only adds to the sense that this group is still learning itself.
For Sabonis, the message was simple: stay available, stay careful, and trust that the rough edges can be sanded down once the season begins. The harder question is whether the Kings can do that quickly enough to turn a healthy enough roster into one that actually fits.
