Sacramento Kings News

Home

Quizzes

Watch

Newsletter

Nov 14, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis (11) shoots against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first quarter at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images

Sabonis' Critical Stat At Lowest Mark Since Rookie Season

Originally posted on Sacramento Kings on SI
By Will Zimmerle | Last updated Nov 15, 2025 9:00 PM ET

It's only been 13 games, but it already feels like the Sacramento Kings' season is trudging along. Coming into the year, the Kings didn't have many expectations, but there was hope they could surprise people and teams around the NBA. But after the last five games, all losses, the Kings feel entrenched at the bottom of the standings, and the season already has the feel of 'just get through it.'

There are numerous issues that the Kings are facing, from injuries to roster construction, but the hope at the beginning of the year was that the talent and veterans would lead the team, and that their offense would be good enough to sustain a subpar defense.

But that just hasn't been the case. Zach LaVine is having a great start to the year, but DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis have both had slow starts relative to the rest of their careers. For Sabonis especially, he's struggling with something that's been a calling card throughout his 10-year-career that has helped him earn two All-NBA team spots: his efficiency.

Sabonis is averaging 17.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game this season. The passing numbers are lower than expected, but the points and rebounds are both still around what you would expect from the All-Star center. But if you look closer at the scoring, it tells a bit of a different story.

Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

Sabonis is shooting 51.1% from the field and 21.1% from three. The dip in three-point shooting is unfortunate, but even after shooting 41.7% from three last season, Sabonis was never much of a threat from deep due to his low volume.

What has hurt more this season is his overall field goal percentage of 51.1%. That seems like a solid mark, but comparing it to the rest of his career, would be the worst shooting season since his 2016-17 rookie season, when he shot 39.9%.

What has made Sabonis so special is his ability to not only impact the game in so many different ways between his scoring, passing, and rebounding, but also his ability to score on such high efficiency. For comparison, he's shot 59.3% from the field during his five seasons in Sacramento. This year so far is truly the outlier:

2021-22: 55.4%

2022-23: 61.5%

2023-24: 59.4%

2024-25: 59.0%

2025-26: 51.1%

Part of that is likely Sabonis continuing to recover from his rib contusion suffered in the sixth game of the season against the Denver Nuggets, but even before that game, Sabonis shot 52.5% from the field. The injury doesn't make it easy, though, as Sabonis doesn't look like he's able to create and play through contact like he usually does. He's not the most athletic big man in the league, and he relies on his footwork and strength to score down low.

And he also hasn't shown his touch just outside the restricted area. On the season, Sabonis is shooting just 38.9% in the non-restricted paint area. That's a steep drop-off from 52.0% last season. The floater and little mid-range touch just haven't been there so far this year, and it's a key part to his game.

The good news is that this could just be a small sample size anomaly that corrects itself throughout the course of the long season. For a Kings team that has a lot of problems to fix if they want to change the narrative of their season, Sabonis getting back to his efficient ways is one of the simplest ways for them to improve.

Domantas Sabonis throws it down over Rudy Gobert.

Sounds like Russell Westbrook approved. pic.twitter.com/sBzLkRJ79m
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) November 15, 2025

Sabonis is coming off a season-high 34 points on 14-of-24 (58.3%) shooting from the field against the Minnesota Timberwolves. If he can replicate that type of performance, not only will his efficiency quickly climb back up, but the Kings should start finding more wins as well.

This article first appeared on Sacramento Kings on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: