Feb 26, 2025; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) warms up before a game against the Utah Jazz at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images
The Sacramento Kings announced Thursday that Malik Monk has been diagnosed with a right toe sprain. Monk suffered the injury against the Dallas Mavericks, although he did return to that game. Monk missed Wednesday’s game against the Denver Nuggets with the injury, and has been ruled out for Friday’s matchup against the San Antonio Spurs. The Kings say that Monk will be considered Day-to-Day going forward.
The Spurs game is a rough game to be missing Monk, as the Kings host the return of De’Aaron Fox. Although the Spurs are also dealing with injury woes after Victor Wembanyama was ruled out for the season with deep vein thrombosis, I personally would have enjoyed seeing Fox and Monk go…ahem…toe to toe.
Monk has had mixed success since the De’Aaron Fox trade that put Monk into the primary ball-handler role for the Kings. Since the trade on February 5th, Monk is averaging 15.5 points, 6.1 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 29.4% from 3 and 41.3% overall. By comparison, before the trade Monk had been averaging 18.2 points, 5.9 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.0 steals, while shooting 33.1% from 3 and 44.9% overall. Despite the dip in Monk’s efficiency and scoring, his absence clearly hurts the Kings. I may complain about the fit of the players on this roster, but one of Sacramento’s strengths is the number of talented players who can take over on any given night. Losing Monk, on top of the Kings already missing Domantas Sabonis, will be a challenge for the Kings as they enter a difficult stretch of their schedule.
While I want to see Monk back as soon as possible, I think it’s smart that the Kings are giving this an official diagnosis and ensuring Monk isn’t rushed back to action. Anyone who has ever strained their toe knows how easy it is to re-aggravate this kind of injury. Here’s hoping Monk takes as long as he needs, but also hoping he doesn’t need long.