{"id":386230,"date":"2026-07-04T18:35:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T18:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386230\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T18:35:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T18:35:09","slug":"kings-rookie-to-miss-california-classic-at-golden-1-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386230\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings rookie to miss California Classic at Golden 1 Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Top rookies Darius Acuff Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr. will go head-to-head when the Sacramento Kings face the Brooklyn Nets on the first day of the California Classic on Saturday at Golden 1 Center.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for the Kings, their other recent first-round draft pick won\u2019t be able to participate in the three-day event after going down with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n<p>An MRI showed that rookie Alex Karaban suffered a right ankle sprain when he landed on another player\u2019s foot after contesting a shot during a scrimmage at the end of Thursday\u2019s practice. The team said Karaban will be reevaluated in one week.<\/p>\n<p>                                          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"responsive-image\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SAC_1421_PK_20260629_KINGS.JPG\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" title=\"SAC_1421_PK_20260629_KINGS.JPG\" alt=\"Sacramento Kings 2026 NBA draft pick Alex Karaban listens to a question during an introductory news conference at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Monday, June 29, 2026.\"\/>                                                                                    Sacramento Kings 2026 NBA draft pick Alex Karaban listens to a question during an introductory news conference at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Monday, June 29, 2026.                                                                                            PAUL KITAGAKI JR.                                                                            pkitagaki@sacbee.com                                                                                        <\/p>\n<p>Karaban was selected with the 29th pick in last week\u2019s NBA draft. The Kings made a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers to acquire Karaban\u2019s draft rights in exchange for two second-round picks.<\/p>\n<p>Karaban, 23, is a 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward who appeared in three NCAA championship games at UConn. He helped the Huskies win back-to-back NCAA championships in 2023 and 2024. The Huskies reached the championship game again this year before losing to Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>Karaban earned first-team All-Big East Conference honors as a senior this season. He averaged 13.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 46.4% from the field and 37.4% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n<p>Karaban will miss all three games in the California Classic, but he could return for the NBA Summer League, which will be held July 9-19 in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published July 3, 2026 at 4:44 PM.<\/p>\n<p>        Related Stories from  Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/221350135\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/SAC_Jason_Anderson_Author_Mug.JPG\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" alt=\"Profile Image of Jason Anderson\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <a class=\"author-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/profile\/221350135\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jason Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n<p>            Jason Anderson has been the Sacramento Kings beat writer for The Sacramento Bee since 2018. He is a Sacramento native who is proud to provide coverage that is as passionate and dedicated as the loyal Kings fan base.\n            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Top rookies Darius Acuff Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr. will go head-to-head when the Sacramento Kings face the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-386230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}