Monk out for Kings-Spurs game with toe injury, will be day-to-day

Monk out for Kings-Spurs game with toe injury, will be day-to-day originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Kings will be without Malik Monk for at least one more game, Sacramento announced Thursday.

MRI imaging confirmed Monk sustained a right toe sprain in the second quarter of Sacramento’s win over the Dallas Mavericks on Monday, and the guard has been ruled out for Friday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs at Golden 1 Center with a day-to-day injury designation.

Monk sat out of the Kings’ 116-110 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at Ball Arena, which snapped Sacramento’s four-game win streak. The Kings also were without star center Domantas Sabonis, who has missed two consecutive games with a grade 1 hamstring strain.

The news means the two Kings cornerstones won’t be on the court when De’Aaron Fox returns to G1C as a member of the Spurs after Sacramento traded him to San Antonio in a multi-team deal that brought Zach LaVine to the 916. While it’s certain to be an emotional matchup, Fox’s former teammate in both Sacramento and at the University of Kentucky won’t suit up.

Monk, who now is the Kings’ starting point guard with Fox’s departure, is averaging career highs across the board with 17.6 points on 44.1-percent shooting, adding 3.8 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 1.0 steals in 32.5 minutes across 52 games (39 starts). As the starting point guard, Monk is averaging 16.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 3.3 turnovers in 12 games.

The Kings certainly will look to make a statement on Friday, but they once again will have to do it shorthanded. The consolation is that Victor Wembanyama won’t be on the court for the Spurs after being ruled out for the rest of the 2024-25 NBA season with a deep vein thrombosis diagnosis, caused by a blood clot.

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