Sabonis Talks Health and Chemistry Ahead of Kings' Season

The Sacramento Kings aren't heading into the season with nearly as much momentum as they had prior to an 0-5 preseason, but hopefully they are able to put a disappointing exhibition season behind them as the real games get underway.

That's likely wishful thinking, as the starters looked out of sorts in their first time playing together against the San Antonio Spurs, but on the plus side, the Kings are entering with all of their veterans seemingly healthy and ready to go. Questions remain surrounding Malik Monk, but Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray, and Ben Simmons are all coming back from injuries and gearing up for the regular season games.

Sabonis talked about his health following practice and stated that he was feeling good and gave some reasoning behind the lower preseason minutes for him and his teammates when asked if he'd had any setbacks in his recovery.

"No no no, everything's good. Just playing it smart. We've had a couple years, and especially with a couple bigs going down, we just want to be smart," Sabonis stated.

Domantas Sabonis on coming back from injury, setting screens and building chemistry with multiple distributors on the court: pic.twitter.com/5YmQeBIvGZ
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) October 18, 2026

Health is going to be a huge factor this year for the Kings. As up-and-down (mostly down) as the preseason was, you still can't deny that this team has talent. Whether that talent fits together and can work throughout an entire NBA season is a huge question mark, but health may be the defining factor of the Kings' success, and Sabonis starting the year healthy is a huge step in the right direction for Sacramento.

Sabonis was also asked about what he was most curious about for the Kings this season, as it's a drastically different team compared to last season. Even with a lot of returning players, the turnover of main rotational players with Russell Westbrok and DeMar DeRozan leaving and Darius Acuff Jr. and Ben Simmons joining gives them a whole different dynamic.

"Excited for the real games to start, for the rotation to be established, you know guys to play with one another. We've got a good group of guys that want to play, want to fight. Everyone has something to prove, so the energy and physicality is definitely going to be there."

While the Kings having a good group of players ready to fight and prove what they can do is great, what stands out most about Sabonis' comments is a singular word: established.

Rotations To Be Established

Oct 5, 2026; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Precious Achiuwa (9) looks on during the second quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Every team in the league goes through a period at the beginning of the season where they are trying to establish their rotations. But I can't help but think that the Kings are behind other teams in how they handled the preseason.

And unlike other teams, the Kings don't have a long runway to ramp up for the season. If they are going to shock the NBA world and compete for a postseason spot, they'll need to hit the ground running. That's much easier said than done when rotations are so up in the air for Sacramento.

Scott Perry has quietly put together a team with great depth, but with that comes the challenge of managing up to 14 players who could see rotational minutes. Injuries will make decisions easier, but Doug Christie has an incredibly hard job ahead of him to manage a roster full of players who could see the court. If the preseason and Sabonis' comments are any indication, it might take a few games at least for the Kings to figure out their rotations. All we can hope is that it isn't a shuffling roster throughout the entire season.

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