Kings rookie Maxime Raynaud leaves game vs. Suns with apparent knee injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The Kings had to deal with injury on top of insult in their 129-102 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Friday at Mortgage Matchup Center, when rookie Maxime Raynaud went down and had to be helped to the locker room in the fourth quarter.
The young center, who has been starting in place of injured big man Domantas Sabonis, appeared to sustain a left knee injury with 4:19 left in the game. Raynaud fell to the ground clutching his knee after he was clipped on the ankle by a driving Russell Westbrook.
Raynaud has started every game since Dec. 6, averaging 14.6 points on 56.5-percent shooting with 9.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists across 11 contests during that span.
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“He’s smiling, so that’s always good,” Kings coach Doug Christie told reporters of Raynaud after the game, though he didn’t have an immediate update on the rookie’s injury. “Always fingers crossed for young players. He plays so hard and he plays with his heart, and when you see stuff like that it just doesn’t necessarily sit well with you. But got my fingers crossed.”
The Kings selected Raynaud out of Stanford at No. 42 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft. On the 2025-26 NBA season, the 7-foot-1, 22-year-old is averaging 10.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 26 games.
