The Sacramento Kings will be facing the Chicago Bulls, and it looks like it will be a reunion for Zach LaVine as he goes up against his former team. LaVine missed the Kings' last game for personal reasons, but they were still able to get the win against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
It's not certain what those personal reasons were for LaVine, and if he wants to make it public he will, but the big question is will he be available to play against the Bulls. The Kings are in an important part of their season where they're trying to stay within the Play-In, and it looks like they have a good chance to stay in the ninth seed.
Health and availability will be key for them down the stretch, and hopefully, LaVine will be able to come back and face his former team.
Zach LaVine's injury status vs. Bulls
Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine (8) against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
LaVine will be available against the Bulls, according to reporter K.C. Johnson, which should be good news for the Kings.
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“Zach LaVine isn’t on injury report and is scheduled to play after missing the Kings’ Wednesday victory for personal reasons,” Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
In 18 games with the Kings, LaVine is averaging 22.7 points and has helped the team stay afloat as they try to make a playoff run. It's been an up-and-down season for the Kings, especially during the time when Mike Brown was fired and De'Aaron Fox was traded. Nobody expected those two things to happen coming into the season, but since then things have been going well for them. Being able to get LaVine in return for Fox was big, and it was obvious that they were still trying to compete with the move.
Doug Christie has come in as the interim coach and has done an exceptional job, and there's a good chance that they could look at him as the permanent head coach during the offseason.
The one thing that the Kings have to hope is that they can stay healthy, and it's been rough for Domantas Sabonis as he's set to miss the next couple of days for the team with an ankle sprain. Sabonis is arguably the Kings' best player and does everything on the floor for them, so not having him out there is tough, but they've shown that they can still win games.
With LaVine back, they should be able to take care of business against the Bulls, another team that is looking to sneak into the Play-In.