yardbarker
Sacramento Kings big man Maxime Raynaud suffered a right knee injury late in the second quarter of Friday night's game against the Golden State Warriors, according to team sources. The injury occurred when Raynaud was setting a screen on Stephen Curry to free up Darius Acuff Jr., leading to a multi-player collision.
Raynaud was struck on the outside of his knee and immediately fell to the court in visible pain. Kings head coach Doug Christie called a timeout to attend to the rookie, who had his face buried in his hands. Team trainers quickly summoned an EMT to bring a wheelchair to transport Raynaud to the locker room.
During halftime, Raynaud underwent testing on his knee, and he was officially ruled out for the remainder of the game with a right knee injury in the third quarter. After being taken from the X-ray room to the area near the visitors' locker room, he was visited by general manager Scott Perry and owner Vivek Ranadive, with Ranadive offering a hug.
Team sources confirmed to The Athletic's Anthony Slater that there is a fear Raynaud may be lost for the foreseeable future. He left the arena on crutches with ice and a large wrap on his knee, per KCRA's Sean Cunningham.
The French big man is coming off a strong rookie season after being selected with the 42nd pick in the 2025 draft. Appearing in 74 games (56 starts), he averaged 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in 26.5 minutes per night while shooting 57.1% from the field. He earned second-team All-Rookie honors.
Raynaud was expected to serve as the primary backup to Domantas Sabonis. His $2.15MM salary for this season is fully guaranteed, and the Kings hold a $2.5MM team option for 2027/28.
More must-reads:
Originally reported by yardbarker.