The worst team in the NBA just got even worse. Two former NBA All-Stars and Sacramento Kings starters, Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis, will be out for the rest of the season, each undergoing season-ending surgery.
LaVine will have surgery to repair a tendon injury in his right hand, while Sabonis has already undergone surgery to fix a torn meniscus in his left knee. Both of their seasons are done.
Meanwhile, Kings guard Zach LaVine is currently undergoing season-ending surgery to repair a tendon injury in his hand, sources tell ESPN. t.co/KmbZvZd4ml
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 18, 2026The Sacramento Kings are currently on a league-worst 14-game losing streak and hold the worst record in the league, a.k.a. the best odds at the number one pick in the stacked 2026 NBA Draft. With these two massive injuries, the already slim possibility of the Kings winning a game has decreased even more. It’s also the clearest sign yet of the Kings’ way of legally tanking.
@ John Hefti-Imagn ImagesHow Injured Are Lavine and Sabonis Really?
The Sacramento Kings definitely had playoff aspirations before this season tipped off, but have now accepted their reality. season isn’t happening. And these two players specifically dealing with physical limitations has had a huge impact on those dreams being crushed.
LaVine and Sabonis have already missed significant time this year because of these injuries. LaVine has missed 17 games this season, including the last three, while Sabonis has missed 33 games so far, 27 of them because of this injury, and he’s also missed the last three games.
These two star players wouldn’t be getting surgery for absolutely no reason. Surgery isn’t a gift; it comes with long hours in the hospital, a painful recovery process, and those funky hospital meals nobody actually enjoys. So the surgeries are definitely legit — and that means the injuries are too.
However, could these surgeries could have potentially been done at the end of the season? Maybe.
Both players were on the trade block at the deadline. Maybe now we know why they weren’t shipped away — failed physicals are never a good look. And, with their values already limited, forcing them to play in a season going nowhere only risks damaging those assets even more. Having them undergo surgery now helps them get healthy sooner and potentially be ready to join another team to start next season fully healthy.
With LaVine and Sabonis gone, Sacramento opens up real opportunities for their young players — Dylan Cardwell, Maxime Raynaud, and Nique Clifford — each of whom has shown flashes of a bright future in the NBA.
So, in a way, it’s a two-birds-one-stone kind of injury and surgery situation.
© Reuters via Imagn ImagesTanking? Who Said Tanking?
Recently, the NBA has been dealing with a tanking problem, one that’s sparked a lot of discourse over the last week or two. It started with the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers blatantly keeping out their star players who were medically available, tipping the scales in favor of a loss.
That forced Adam Silver to fine both teams significant amounts to send a message that he would not tolerate it. There were even reported threats of taking away picks, and in extreme conversations, removing the NBA Draft altogether, just to make sure this doesn’t continue.
Which means that, if a team wants to keep its players out and lose games ethically and legally, those players can’t be physically available. And that’s exactly what the Sacramento Kings are doing with LaVine and Sabonis — and why Dallas is not bringing back Kyrie Irving this season.
There’s a tight race at the bottom, with the five worst teams holding nearly identical records, but their odds at the top pick wildly different. Other teams might try a phantom injury or two, but they won’t force players to undergo surgery if they don’t absolutely have to, and that’s where the Kings gain a small advantage.
It’ll be interesting to see which other tanking teams follow this route and suddenly have players sidelined for the rest of the season. Names like Keyonte George, Alex Sarr, and Ivica Zubac will definitely be ones to watch.
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