Kings sixth man Monk out at least two weeks with ankle injury

Kings sixth man Monk out at least two weeks with ankle injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Kings will be without key guard Malik Monk for at least a fortnight.

Sacramento’s sixth man suffered a “moderate” right ankle sprain on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns, the Kings announced Monday, and Monk’s X-ray revealed no structural damage.

In the second quarter of Sunday’s game, Monk incidentally stepped on the shoe of Suns center Mason Plumlee in an attempt to close out on Suns guard Grayson Allen. Monk ultimately hobbled to Sacramento’s locker room and missed the remainder of the Kings’ 127-118 overtime win at Footprint Center.

“Obviously, it’s tough to lose a guy who has as big of an impact as [Monk] has on our team,” Kings coach Mike Brown told reporters on Monday before Sacramento’s game against the San Antonio Spurs. “We experienced it last year at the end of the year. It’s really about the next man has to step up. You know … we got 17 guys or whatever, and everybody has to stay ready. You never know when your number’s called.”

Sacramento endured similar when Monk missed the final 11 games of the 2023-24 regular season — including the pair of Kings NBA Play-In Tournament games — with a right MCL sprain.

The Kings will miss Monk’s presence now as much as before. He was averaging 12.6 points on 44.2-percent shooting with 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 assists and playing the sixth-most minutes per night (25.0) for the Kings this season.

And, of course, Monk finished top five in the race for NBA Sixth Man of the Year during the two previous campaigns; his mere existence commands respect from opposing defenses.

“Obviously, with the impact that he has with our group, we’re going to miss him, but the NBA’s going to hold games for us until he gets back,” Brown said. “So we got to push forward and try and get it done.”

At 5-4, the Kings likely will need more from guards such as Kevin Huerter and Keon Ellis to replace Monk in the aggregate.

Until Monk is scheduled to be re-evaluated, Sacramento will play, in order, the Spurs, Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Atlanta Hawks, Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets and the Oklahoma City Thunder over the next two weeks.

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