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Sacramento Kings coach Doug Christie has used 30 different starting lineups this season with Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis combining to miss 114 games due to injuries.<\/p>\n
The one constant has been DeMar DeRozan, a 36-year-old forward who missed his first game of the season in Sunday\u2019s 126-110 victory over the Chicago Bulls at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.<\/p>\n
DeRozan was ruled out due to illness, ending his streak of consecutive games at 126. DeRozan played the last 62 games of the 2024-25 season and the first 64 games of the current season. He had not missed a game since November 2024, when he was ruled out for two games against the Minnesota Timberwolves and Portland Trail Blazers due to lower back inflammation.<\/p>\n
Kings coach Doug Christie often talks about how much he enjoys coaching DeRozan, a 17-year veteran who ranks 19th on the NBA\u2019s all-time scoring list with 27,109 points.<\/p>\n
Christie praised DeRozan for his pride, professionalism and durability before Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for him, it\u2019s like an honor thing,\u201d Christie said. \u201cHe respects the game in a way that he wants to be available for every possibility. It\u2019s kind of sad because, as someone who played 82 games, there\u2019s a badge that goes with that to say every night I\u2019m lacing them up and I\u2019m getting after it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow he approaches the game, how he goes about his offseason, how he goes about his in-game work, how he goes about his film work, comes back at nighttime, gets shots up, has a routine that he goes through. There\u2019s no mistake that you score almost 30,000 points or wherever he\u2019s at right now in the pantheon of the greatest of the greats in our game because of how he goes about his business.\u201d<\/p>\n
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