Monk injured as Kings suffer costly loss to Mavericks in Western Conference playoff race

There was a somber mood in Sacramento late Friday night as the Kings awaited word on Malik Monk’s injury following a heartbreaking loss to the Dallas Mavericks.

Kyrie Irving scored 30 points and Luka Doncic flirted with a triple-double to help the Mavericks rally from a 15-point deficit in a 107-103 victory over the crestfallen Kings before a sellout crowd of 17,832 at Golden 1 Center.

The Kings had a chance to jump from No. 8 to No. 6 in the Western Conference playoff race with nine games remaining in the regular season. Instead, they suffered an agonizing loss after losing Monk to a potentially serious knee injury in the first quarter.

The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported Monk was feared to have suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee. Sources told The Sacramento Bee that Monk was undergoing further testing Friday, including imaging exams.

Monk had just entered the game midway through the first period when the injury occurred. Monk was trying to contest a driving layup attempt by Doncic when their legs got tangled up. Doncic tumbled to the floor with much of his body weight coming down on Monk’s right leg.

After being helped to his feet, Monk walked off the floor under his own power and headed straight to the locker room for treatment from the team’s medical staff. A short time later, the Kings announced Monk would not return due to a right knee injury.

Kings coach Mike Brown did not have an update on Monk’s condition immediately after the game, but he struck an ominous chord amid obvious concern for a team that has already been hit hard by injuries.

“I didn’t see the injury so I can’t comment on the injury,” Brown said. “... I just know, hey, we’ve got to have the next man step up. Nobody’s going to fill Malik’s shoes, so we just have to do it by committee.”

Monk has emerged as a leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate in his second season with the Kings. He is averaging career highs of 15.6 points and 5.2 assists while shooting 44.3% from the field and 35.1% from 3-point range.

“It’s definitely big what he does for us playmaking and scoring coming off the bench,” said Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox, Monk’s childhood friend and former Kentucky teammate. “That’s a big blow. We don’t know how significant it is yet. We’re hoping for the best, but if he is out for some time, we have nine games left — there’s no looking in the mirror now.”

The Kings are already missing starting shooting guard Kevin Huerter (shoulder), forward Trey Lyles (knee) and forward Sasha Vezenkov (ankle). Vezenkov and Lyles seem to be nearing their returns, but Huerter’s agent, Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports and Entertainment, told The Bee on Friday that Huerter will undergo season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum.

“It’s unfortunate,” Kings forward Harrison Barnes said when asked about Monk’s injury. “Obviously, still trying to figure out the severity of it, but that’s part of the business. I think last year we were extremely healthy and we didn’t have to worry about that. This year, we’ve been a little bit injury plagued.”

Doncic had 26 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists for the Mavericks (44-29), who are in sole possession of the No. 6 spot in the West, 1 ½ games ahead of the Phoenix Suns and two games ahead of the Kings.

Fox had 23 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Kings (42-31), who were minutes away from reclaiming the No. 6 seed with a bounce-back win after suffering a 132-96 loss to the Mavericks on Tuesday. Barnes had 20 points and six rebounds. Keon Ellis had 16 points, six rebounds and three steals.

Domantas Sabonis finished with 13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, posting his league-leading 26^th triple-double of the season. Sabonis also recorded his league-leading 69^th double-double of the season and his 56^th in a row to break Jerry Lucas’ franchise record.

With the injuries mounting, the Kings got solid contributions from the likes of Davion Mitchell and Kessler Edwards. Mitchell scored eight points on 4-of-6 shooting. Edwards scored nine points in 11 minutes, going 3 of 3 from 3-point range.

Brown was perplexed by Dallas’ 33-12 advantage in free-throw attempts.

“I thought our guys fought throughout most of the game,” Brown said. “You’ve got to give our guys credit. They fought real hard to get this win. Obviously, an injury by Malik made it a little tough, but we had guys step up no matter who we threw into the game.”

“To lose the free-throw battle 33-12, I don’t understand it. They get calls that are touch fouls and I ask the officials about it, and the officials say, ‘Yeah, they’re touch fouls and maybe we shouldn’t have called that,’ but we can’t get the same calls. As a coach, when you’re team is fighting, all you want is consistency, and 33-12 is not consistency.”

The Kings controlled much of the game before getting outscored 34-21 in the fourth quarter. They raced out to a 13-point lead in the first period and went up by 15 in the second before carrying a 60-51 advantage into the halftime break.

Both teams shot over 47% in the first half, but Sacramento made 8 of 17 (.471) from 3-point range while Dallas hit just 5 of 17 (.294). The Kings outscored the Mavericks 8-2 in second-chance points and 20-3 in fastbreak points.

Dallas cut the deficit to three after outscoring Sacramento 9-3 to start the second half. The Kings responded with a 7-1 run to regain control and led 82-73 going into the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks came back to get within three on a 3-pointer by Irving. They tied the game on a 3-pointer by Dante Exum and took a 94-92 lead on two free throws by Irving with 6:21 to go in the fourth quarter.

Fox, Irving and Murray hit big shots as the Kings and Mavericks exchanged blows in the final minutes. Exum hit the biggest of them all when buried a 3-pointer to put Dallas up 106-103 with 27.5 seconds remaining.

The Kings still had a chance to tie the game, but Barnes missed a 3-pointer with 18.1 seconds to go. Murray came up with an offensive rebound, but a bad pass from Barnes to Fox resulted in a backcourt violation.

Ruled out

Vezenkov was ruled out again after being listed as questionable for the sixth game in a row. Vezenkov has been ramping up toward a return after missing the past 22 games due to a grade-3 right ankle sprain.

Lyles has missed the past nine games with a left knee sprain. On March 15, the Kings said Lyles would be reevaluated in two weeks, but there was no update Friday as that date came and went.

Brown couldn’t provide much of a progress report on either player before Friday’s game.

“I don’t really track it on a day-to-day basis because, really, at the end of the day, it’s going to take my mind away from the guys that are healthy,” Brown said. “I know they’re getting closer, but I don’t know when either guy will play.”

Home cooking

The Kings enjoyed two days off after playing their fifth game in seven nights in Tuesday’s loss to the Mavericks. Brown said it was a much-needed break in the schedule.

“We needed it,” Brown said. “We all needed it. It was tough to play five in seven. Everybody goes through it. You hope you don’t have to do it at the end when you’re fighting your tail off in a race like this ... but we’ve got to keep trying to figure out ways (to win) no matter what schedule we have in front of us. We’ve still got to go back East (for a four-game road trip) and we still have to win games.”

Up next

The Kings will play the fourth game of this five-game homestand when they entertain the Utah Jazz at 6 p.m. Sunday at Golden 1 Center.

The Jazz (29-44) has lost eight in a row following Friday’s 101-100 loss to the Houston Rockets. Utah has lost 19 of 22 dating back to Feb. 8.

This will be the third and final meeting between the Kings and Jazz this season. The Kings beat the Jazz 130-114 on Oct. 25 in Salt Lake City and 125-104 on Dec. 16 in Sacramento. Barnes scored 33 points in the first game. Murray erupted for a career-high 47 points in the second game.

Upcoming schedule

March 31 vs. Utah Jazz

April 2 vs. Los Angeles Clippers

April 4 at New York Knicks

April 5 at Boston Celtics

April 7 at Brooklyn Nets