From wire reports

Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis underwent season-ending surgery Wednesday morning to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

The three-time All-Star hasn’t played since Feb. 4 and will finish the season with a career-low 19 games. Before this season, Sabonis hadn’t played fewer than 62 games.

The Kings enter the other side of the All-Star break with the NBA’s worst record (12-44), having lost 14 consecutive games, tied for the longest losing streak in franchise history.

This month marks four years since the Kings acquired Sabonis – a former Gonzaga standout – from the Indiana Pacers. Since then, he’s notched two of his three All-Star nods and twice finished in the top ten in MVP voting.

Over those two seasons, he averaged 19.3 points, 13 rebounds and 7.7 assists while missing only three games. During the 2022-23 season, Sabonis was a catalyst for Sacramento snapping a 16-season playoff drought, the longest in NBA history. Since then, the team has regressed in the league standings and has evaluated its long-term identity, both of which have been greatly influenced by the front office trading De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs just over a year ago.

Since that magical 2023 playoff run, Sacramento is 21st in the league in win percentage (.445) and is on pace to miss the playoffs for the 19th time in the last 20 years. The Kings’ win percentage of .214 this season is on pace for their second-worst single-season mark, which trails only their 2008-09 campaign (.207, 17-65 record).

Another layer to Sacramento’s season-long struggles has been the uncertainty around Sabonis’ future with the team. According to league sources, the Kings had extensive discussions with Toronto about trading him to the Raptors before the February trade deadline and are expected to revisit the idea of shopping him during the offseason. After this season, the 29-year-old will have two seasons remaining on a four-year, $186 million contract extension he signed in July 2023.

His points (15.8) and rebounds (11.4) this season are on pace for his lowest single-season averages since his third season in the league.