The Sacramento Kings just got dealt a heavy injury blow. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Kevin Huerter is set to undergo surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
The surgery will cause Huerter to miss the rest of the year. The Kings expect him to be ready to go at the start of the 2024-25 campaign.
Sacramento Kings Guard to Miss Rest of Season
Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Huerter will undergo season-ending left shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum, Mark Bartelstein of @PrioritySports tells ESPN. Huerter is expected to be fully recovered for the start of the 2024-2025 season. pic.twitter.com/coLqxvIHhR
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 29, 2024
Sacramento Kings Kevin Huerter Before Injury
Huerter injured his shoulder less than two minutes in to a game against the Memphis Grizzlies 11 days ago. The Kings were able to withstand the injury and went on to beat Memphis 121-111 in overtime.
The 25 year-old was averaging 10.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game, starting 59 of the 64 games he appeared in.
Known as one of the best sharpshooting role players in the NBA, Huerter had been struggling prior to his injury. In 2023-24, Huerter averaged five minutes less than in 2022-23. The Kings guard’s average of 10.2 points per game was his lowest total since 2018-19: his rookie season. Despite shooting 40% from three-point range in 2022-23, Huerter only connected on 36% of his triples this season.
Jared Koch of Inside the Kings reported on Huerter addressing his down year at a media availability session shortly before his injury occurred.
“I still think I’m working on it. There’s different things I don’t think I handled well earlier in the season, some of those downs and figuring out ways to come out of those quickly. I just think it goes with trying to control what I can control and not getting so caught up in factors that I can’t. Continue to just focus on me, and when I’m on the court, being the best version that I can be of myself and how I can help this team win at a high level because I know I’ve helped this team win at a high level. Just continue to try to do that. Positive mental mindset. Continue to put my work in every day. We got 82 of these things. We’re going to go through a lot of them, and there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs throughout the season.
Sacramento Kings in 2023-24
Sacramento has struggled to replicate last season’s heroics, in which they shocked the NBA world by finishing second in a loaded Western Conference.
The Kings occupy the eight seed with a record of 42-30. The good news for Sacramento is that if they are able to close out the regular season in strong fashion, they could climb up to as high as fourth in the West.
The bad news is that there still lies a scenario in which they miss out on the playoffs completely, as the Houston Rockets are five games back with 10 games to go.
Qualification for the playoffs through the regular season is still perfectly viable, given that they are only one game behind the sixth-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
The Kings will take on the Mavericks tonight in a game with huge playoff implications. Sacramento lost the previous matchup three days ago in a 132-96 blowout.
