Kings Center Sidelined for Three Weeks With New Injury

The injury bug gets the best of the Sacramento Kings once again.

Nov 19, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Drew Eubanks (19) runs down the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at Paycom Center. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Sacramento’s already thin center position somehow got thinner today. The Kings announced on Saturday that Drew Eubanks has an avulsion fracture on his left thumb and will be reevaluated in three weeks. 

Drew Eubanks suffered an avulsion fracture
of the left thumb. He will be reevaluated in 3 weeks. pic.twitter.com/aa363IkUDx

— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) December 14, 2025

The impact of Eubanks' injury

Eubanks signed with Sacramento as a free agent this summer, coming in on a veteran minimum to bolster the frontcourt rotation after the Kings traded Jonas Valanciunas for Dario Saric. Saric has played just 28 minutes this season. So, the Kings essentially traded last season’s backup center for nothing, creating a need for center depth. 

This is where Eubanks was supposed to come in. He, Isaac Jones, and second-round pick Maxime Raynaud were the bigs tasked with filling the hole left by Valanciunas, who is regarded as one of the best backup centers in the league. 

Eubanks has been a serviceable rotation big throughout his career, with notably productive stints in San Antonio and Phoenix. He started during a stint with the Portland Trail Blazers and averaged 14.4 PPG and 8.5 RPG. These numbers came in just 22 games, so it is not necessarily proof that Eubanks could be a full-time starter. 

Until recently, Eubanks had started in place of Domantas Sabonis, who has not played since November 16 as he recovers from a partially torn meniscus.

This was clearly not the plan when Sacramento signed Eubanks over the summer, and it went as expected. Sacramento sported a -22.7 plus minus with Eubanks as a starter, and has a positive +/- in just three of his 11 starts. This is obviously more a product of the team than Eubanks himself, but he was clearly overtasked as a starting center. 

Nov 19, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Drew Eubanks (19) runs down the court against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the second quarter at Paycom Center. | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Raynaud’s emergence has coincided with Eubanks’s gradual drift into the periphery of Sacramento’s rotation. The Oregon State product has not played more than 12 minutes in a game this month and has not played more than 20 minutes since November 22. Raynaud, on the other hand, has played more than 20 minutes in each of the last six games. 

After this development, Maxime Raynaud and Precious Achiuwa are the lone healthy bigs on Sacramento’s roster. Raynaud has looked very comfortable in his three starts, averaging 13 points and 9 rebounds per game. It is obviously unfortunate that Raynaud’s emergence has come out of necessity, but it is for the best in the long run. 

Since Eubanks has played less than 10 minutes per game this month, it appears that the rotation will not exactly be shaken to its core after this injury. However, in what has been dubbed an "evaluation year”, it is far more important to see what Sacramento’s new regime has in their first draft class than watching veterans show what we already know they can do.

This goes for Achiuwa as well, who is just 26 years old and is still looking for a long-term home after being a heralded high school prospect and 2020 first-round pick. 

Sacramento will use their new streamlined frontcourt when they face the Minnesota Timberwolves.