Sacramento Kings End-of-Season Report Card: Domantas Sabonis

Most of the “end of season” grades I’ve written so far have been relatively straightforward. Malik Monk, Jonas Valančiūnas, Keegan Murray, and Devin Carter all had their ups and downs, but none of the four are paid more than $18 million per year. Now, $18 million is still a lot by any standard, however, there’s a big gap between that and $40 million. $40 million can still be a bargain for many players (e.g Anthony Edwards), but is it a bargain for Domantas Sabonis?

24/25 regular season:

19 PTS

13.9 REB

6 AST

59% from the field

41.7% from three

The Good:

I think it’s important to start with the positive when it comes to Sabonis because there are so many things he does well and he put up some of most ridiculous statlines I’ve ever seen all season long.

Domantas Sabonis TRIPLE-DOUBLE 😤

37 PTS
10 REB
13 AST
16-21 FG

Helped erase 20-point deficit vs. Pistons pic.twitter.com/XwkqUN22kX
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 10, 2024

First, Domas is still the best rebounder in the NBA. Rebounding is a skill that is often overlooked because it isn’t flashy, but what Sabonis brings on the boards is one of the big reasons the Kings are able to stay competitive against better competition. Domas led the league with a defensive rebounding percentage of 32.6% and total percentage of 22.4%, meaning that he grabbed over 22% of all available rebounds while he was on the court this season.

That’s just an incredible skill that leads to more possessions for the Kings and less possessions for opponents. In fact, the Kings were third in the entire NBA in offensive rebounds allowed per game, this is directly due to Domas’ impact on the glass.

Next, we get to the scoring. With 19 points per game, Sabonis was third on the team behind Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan while only taking 10.5 shots per game. Shooting nearly 60% from the field and almost 42% from three is nothing to scoff at, even if the volume isn’t super high.

Among players with over 25 minutes a game, Sabonis is tied for 8th (with Nikola Jokic) in effective field goal percentage at 62.7%. No matter how many clips you see of bad misses under the hoop and rough looking triples, Domas is and will always be an incredible efficient scorer.

The biggest development to his game this year on the scoring front was his shooting from deep. While 2.2 is still not a lot of attempts from three, it is double Sabonis’ average from last season and made a huge difference in how teams defended the Kings. For example, in a January matchup with the Warriors and the Kings down 3 in the fourth, Trayce Jackson-Davis shows exactly how important it is that Sabonis is able to shoot from deep.

genuinely this was one of the most important plays of the night for sabonis. if defenses close out hard to him it might be over https://t.co/w991xbPX02 pic.twitter.com/aLhLEdgcoH
— ben pfeifer (@bjpf_) January 23, 2025

Sabonis’ makes are important, but plays like the one above are just as important because it gets the defense moving. Even though Sabonis drives here and gets fouled, the next time he pumps from three it could lead to an open triple for a teammate if the defense collapses on him.

The Bad:

The bad parts of Sabonis game mostly boiled down to defense this season, and that unfortunately overshadowed a great statistical season.

If you look at numbers like defensive field goal percentage, you would think that Sabonis is a fine defender. Players shot 3.5% worse on shots within 10 feet when Sabonis was the primary defender and 2.3% worse overall on two pointers. These are solid numbers that point to a decent defender, which, to be fair to Sabonis, he is.

The problems with Sabonis’ defense have almost as much to do with the Kings’ personnel as they do with Domas himself. With Sacramento’s turnstile defense, Sabonis was often forced to disrupt shots from players coming straight downhill, which led to a lot of foul trouble for Domas and more defensive issues.

The other problem with Sabonis' defense was defending the three and defending quicker players in space. Opponents shot 3.4% better from deep with Sabonis as the primary defender which equated to almost 39% from three on average, not great. This all stems from Sabonis getting himself out of position and his lack of lateral quickness.

When Sabonis closes out hard, he gives opponents a lane to drive and if he doesn’t close out hard, he doesn’t have enough length to affect shots. This Catch-22 showed up so often for Sacamento and will be one of the keys to turning the teams’ defense around next season.

Overall, Domas still had an incredible seasons and did a lot of things well (including his passing which I did not highlight), but his decrease in AST/TO ratio, defensive issues, and massive salary all hurt his grade this season. I’ll admit his stature as one of the King’s most expensive and important players forces me to be harder on him, but I do think this grade is fair for his season.

Grade:

The Good:

The Bad:

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