The Sacramento Kings are dealing with another major injury after backup center Drew Eubanks was diagnosed with an avulsion fracture to his left thumb.
Eubanks has been ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Minesota Timberwolves at Target Center in Minneapolis. The Kings have not specified a course of treatment or a timetable for his recovery, but he is expected to be reevaluated in three weeks.
Eubanks went to the locker room with members of the team’s medical staff after suffering the injury late in the first quarter of Thursday’s 136-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The Kings later announced Eubanks would not return.
An avulsion fracture occurs when a piece of bone attached to a ligament or tendon breaks away from the main part of the bone. Most avulsion fractures will heal within 12 weeks with rest, ice, compression and elevation, but sometimes surgery is required.
Kings center Domantas Sabonis suffered an avulsion fracture in his right thumb in December 2022. Sabonis missed only one game before returning with a protective brace to lead the Kings to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, ending the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
The Kings (6-19) have been besieged by injuries over the first 25 games of the season. Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray, Malik Monk, Dennis Schroder and Nique Clifford have missed a total of 46 games due to injuries.
Sabonis is sidelined by a partially torn meniscus in his left knee after missing games with a right hamstring strain, left ribcage contusion and left knee soreness. Murray missed the first 15 games of the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb.
Schroder, who was acquired over the summer in a sign-and-trade deal with the Detroit Pistons, has been ruled out for Sunday’s contest after missing the past seven games with a right hip flexor strain.