Sacramento Kings facing difficult road to playoffs following injuries to Huerter, Monk

The harsh reality for the Sacramento Kings is the difficult road to the playoffs became more challenging in recent days because of key losses and injuries.

The Kings enter Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers in the No. 8 seed of the Western Conference with eight games remaining. Should they finish below the No. 6 seed, they would be forced into the play-in tournament where their season could end in one or two games — while a top-six finish means a guaranteed spot in the playoffs.

But more obstacles were thrown in their path last week, with serious injuries:

Kevin Huerter: The starting shooting guard needs season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Malik Monk: Compounding that was an injury Friday to the fan favorite and leading Sixth Man of the Year candidate. He sprained the MCL in his left knee.

Monk’s injury

The injury will cost Monk at least a month, meaning the earliest plausible return would be for the conference semifinals beginning in the first week of May, should the Kings make it that far.

Monk was Sacramento’s second-leading scorer in last year’s playoff series against the Golden State Warriors when he averaged 19.0 points per game, including 32 points and 28 points during victories in Game 1 and Game 6, respectively.

Monk is the NBA’s only bench player to average 15.4 points along with 5.1 assists on the season.

“You can’t replace Malik. That’s tough,” Kings coach Mike Brown said Sunday. “He did a lot for us. And he could easily start for a lot of teams. He’s on the floor at lot of times down the stretch of games. So to think that one person is going to come in and replace him, it’s not possible.”

Wins, losses add up

The win Sunday against the Utah Jazz provided a blueprint for how the Kings could go about playing without their sixth man. Keegan Murray scored 25 points and Harrison Barnes added 24 while the duo combined to shoot 10 of 19 from 3-point range. The team also saw the returns of Trey Lyles and Sasha Vezenkov from lengthy injuries to help fortify their bench with Monk and Huerter sidelined.

Sunday’s victory was much needed after back-to-back home losses to the surging Dallas Mavericks, who enter Tuesday in the No. 5 seed in the West while winning seven straight and nine of 10.

Those defeats dealt a substantial blow to Sacramento’s long term outlook. ESPN’s BPI gives Sacramento a 1.9% probability at ending the season with a top-six seed and 97.1% chance of landing in the play-in tournament.

The playoff status: Things get more difficult following Tuesday’s game against the No. 4 seed Clippers with a four-game road trip that includes a back-to-back beginning Thursday against the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics on Friday who have the NBA’s best record of 59-16.

“When you try to take a long-term view of where things are at and the standings,” Barnes said Sunday, “I think the thing for us to focus on is the only way is through. Whether we get the sixth seed, whether we get the play-in game, no matter who we see in the first round, whatever it is, it’s through. That’s our mentality. That’s where we feel like we are.”

The Kings as of Tuesday were half a game behind the Phoenix Suns who hold the No. 7 seed and a game and a half ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers who sit in ninth, and three games ahead of the Warriors who are tenth. If those results hold through the end of the regular season, the Kings would have to win in Phoenix in the play-in game to earn the No. 7 seed in the playoffs where they would take on the No. 2 seed in Round 1.

If the Kings lost to Phoenix, they would have to play the winner of a game between the Lakers and Warriors to advance to earn the No. 8 seed, where they would play a series against the No. 1 seed.

Sacramento could take solace in how they performed against the West’s top seeded teams this season should they survive the play-in. The Kings are 2-1 against Oklahoma City, currently in the top spot, 3-1 against the defending champion Denver Nuggets, and 2-1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Those three teams as of Tuesday were separated by one game in the standings for the top three spots in the conference.

“We know that any given night, we show up and do the things we’re supposed to do, we’re going to be in good shape,” Barnes said.