The Sacramento Kings have already lost Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine and De’Andre Hunter to season-ending surgeries. In all likelihood, backup center Drew Eubanks is about to join that list.
The Kings announced that Eubanks has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb. He is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair the injury on Wednesday. The Kings haven’t officially ruled Eubanks out for the rest of the season, but a return to competition is highly unlikely.
Kings forward Keegan Murray suffered the same injury in October. He was given a recovery timeline of four to six weeks and missed the first 15 games of the season. There are less than four weeks remaining in the season.
Eubanks sustained the injury in Wednesday’s 117-109 loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The injury was initially described as left thumb soreness before tests revealed a UCL tear.
Eubanks is an eight-year NBA veteran who signed a one-year, $3 million contract with Sacramento last summer. He has appeared in 42 games for the Kings, averaging 5.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 13.1 minutes pee game.
The Kings (18-51) have been decimated by injuries this season. Fifteen players have missed a total of 204 games due to injury, forcing coach Doug Christie to use 31 different starting lineups.
Sabonis appeared in only 19 games before undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Murray, whose return this season is also in doubt due to an ankle injury, has only appeared in 23 games. LaVine played 39 games before undergoing surgery to repair a tendon in his right pinky finger. Hunter only appeared in two games after being acquired in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers before undergoing surgery to repair the retina in his left eye.
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Jason Anderson is The Sacramento Bee’s Kings beat writer. He is a Sacramento native and a graduate of Fresno State, where he studied journalism and college basketball under the late Jerry Tarkanian.