OPINION: Sacramento's Domantas Sabonis is the most underrated player in the NBA
How do you make NBA history? By putting in deafening scoring performances would be the first answer that many observers, followers and basketball fans would give. The league has indeed been spoilt for choice for some time now for big-scoring players or geniuses who string together 30-point games or several triple-doubles.
But a player is only as good as the consistency of their performances. And it's in this column that we find a certain Domantas Sabonis. Since the start of the season, the Lithuanian seems to have reached a new level.
The proof came on Monday night when he recorded his 50th consecutive double-double (at least 10 points in two of the five major statistical categories) in the Kings' overtime win over the Grizzlies.
To put his performance into perspective, only Kevin Love, then with the Timberwolves, has managed this feat in the 21st century, during the 2010/2011 season. And if we look back over the last 50 NBA seasons, we can only add the legendary Moses Malone (1978/1979 season) to this extremely exclusive club, which has only nine members in total.
These incredible numbers are only further proof of the Lithuanian's consistency and talent, despite starting off on the wrong foot in the NBA. Drafted 11th by Orlando in 2019, he was immediately sent to Oklahoma City in a swap deal to get Serge Ibaka. A year later, he was traded again so Paul George could join the Thunder. So it was then off to Indiana, where Sabonis would finally develop as a player.
His name carries a lot of weight. His father is an international basketball legend. Arvydas Sabonis - a member of the NBA and FIBA Hall Of Fame, Olympic, a world and European champion - came to the NBA late in life, but that didn't stop him from making his mark. It's a legacy that Domantas seems to be gradually shedding, even if it wasn't a foregone conclusion.
At Indiana, he began a slow progression that took him to the All-Star Game twice (2020, 2021), and he seemed to be the figurehead of a team looking to climb back to the top of the NBA, after having been one of the major teams in the late '90s and early 2000s. He seemed to be the man around whom the team were being built, the first piece in a reconstruction that many NBA sides have to go through.
Hence the astonishment in the winter of 2022 when he was part of a totally unexpected trade - his third - in which he was the main piece. This time allowing Indiana to bring in the promising Tyrese Haliburton. At the time, everyone was talking about a 'lose-lose' trade, thinking that the Kings had let go of an ultra-promising player and the Pacers of a sure thing.
Two years on, it has to be said that everyone is a winner. Haliburton has become an All-Star, and Indiana has managed to rebuild perfectly. As far as the Kings are concerned, there's no need to argue. The Sacramento outfit returned to the playoffs last season after a 16-year absence, coming within a game of advancing to the second round. And this season, they're still in the running for direct qualification, thanks in no small part to the prowess of their Lithuanian genius.
Averaging 20.1 points, 13.7 rebounds (number one in the NBA), and 8.3 assists with 60.9% shooting, it's the best season of his career, without a doubt.
It's been a season that could well have been turned on its head when, despite some quality performances in a team in great form, Sabonis simply wasn't selected for the All-Star Game. It was a heresy that has been widely discussed, and which only goes to prove that the All-Star Game is less and less representative of what is happening in the NBA.
Behind the last two MVPs, Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid, who is better than 'Domas' at the pivot position? Nobody. The Lithuanian is often compared to the Serbian for his game intelligence and positional play, and while he is not yet at that level, he is getting close. However, he suffers from one of the NBA's recurring ills - since the 'Joker', in the same range, is better than him, public opinion tends to underestimate this extremely talented player.
He's not flashy, he doesn't slam big dunks, he doesn't put up 50-point games (he has a career-high of 42) and he shines in a team that has been derided for its lack of results for the last fifteen years. But the team is turning a corner, thanks in no small part to the duo he forms with De'Aaron Fox.
Selected in the All-NBA Third Team last season, it would be incongruous if he didn't do as well again this time around or better. Above all, Sabonis is only one good playoff run away from finally attracting the attention he deserves and shining a spotlight on the NBA's most underrated player.
