Domantas Sabonis reached an incredible milestone last season when he became the only Kings player in the Sacramento era to reach 500 rebounds in the first half of the season.
But sometimes, your biggest competition is yourself.
Midway through the 2024-25 NBA season, Sabonis has now broken the own record he set when he grabbed 517 rebounds last year. With 14 boards in Sacramento's nailbiting win over the Houston Rockets on Thursday night, Sabonis has a total of 536 rebounds at the halfway mark of the season.
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Oh, and he was one rebound shy of doing so in his first full season with the team during the 2022-23 campaign.
Since the Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985-86, Domantas Sabonis is the only player to reach 500 rebounds in the first half of a season — he's now done so in back-to-back seasons.
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) January 17, 2025
🔗 https://t.co/UjX34d8teT pic.twitter.com/Ewed8PT7CZ
Sabonis is having a career-year in his ninth NBA season, averaging 20.6 points on an efficient 60-percent shooting from the field and 47.8 percent from 3-point range, with 14.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists in 36.1 minutes.
The Lithuanian big man has led the league in rebounds over the past two seasons, and that holds true through 41 games this year.
NBA
Sabonis was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for his contributions to Sacramento's continued hot stretch last week, which included a seven-game win streak and winning eight of their last 10 games.
That stretch also coincided with the dismissal of former Kings coach Mike Brown, who was replaced by interim head coach Doug Christie, someone Sabonis has worked closely with since being traded to Sacramento. Sabonis -- and many other players -- have credited Christie's simplistic strategy and being able to play more freely on the court.
The Kings now are just 1.5 games back from the Western Conference's No. 6 playoff seed, and they'll rely heavily on their rebounding machine's efforts to build upon their inspiring turnaround.