Jokic helps Nuggets smack Kings as Sacramento's injury woes worsen

Jason Anderson, The Sacramento Bee on Dec 12, 2025

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings had no answer for three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets with starters and some key reserves out due to injuries.

Jokic put up 36 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Nuggets to a 136-105 victory over the Kings before an announced crowd of 16,307 at Golden 1 Center on Thursday.

Peyton Watson added 21 points for the Nuggets (18-6), who have won four in a row. Cameron Johnson added 16. Jonas Valanciunas had 15 points and six rebounds.

Russell Westbrook scored 17 points to lead the Kings (6-19), who have lost six of seven and 14 of their last 17. Keegan Murray had 15 points and six rebounds. Malik Monk came off the bench to score 18 and DeMar DeRozan added 11 while passing Vince Carter for 23rd on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

The Kings were missing two key starters with Zach LaVine out because of right thumb soreness and Domantas Sabonis still sidelined by a partially torn meniscus in his left knee. Backup point guard Dennis Schroder missed his seventh consecutive game with a right hip flexor strain.

Kings coach Doug Christie chose to start rookie first-round draft pick Nique Clifford in place of LaVine with rookie second-round draft pick Maxime Raynaud making his third consecutive start at center in place of Sabonis.

Raynaud finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. Clifford had two points on 1-of-8 shooting with three rebounds.

Halftime report

The Nuggets opened up a double-digit lead after making 11 of their first 16 field goal attempts. Jokic had the hot hand early, scoring 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in the opening period.

Sacramento’s injury woes worsened when backup center Drew Eubanks left the game with 3:08 to play in the first period. A short time later, the Kings announced Eubanks would not return due to a right thumb injury.

The Nuggets led 41-26 at the end of the first quarter and went up by 22 points early in the second. The Kings came back to cut the deficit to 13 on a basket by Westbrook with 7:43 to play in the first half, but they trailed 77-54 at the halftime break.

Jokic scored 23 points in the opening half. He went 8 of 9 from the field and 2 of 2 from 3-point range. The Nuggets shot 64.3% and went 8 of 15 (.533) from beyond the arc. The Kings shot 44.2% overall and 22.2% from long distance.

Second-half summary

The Nuggets went up by 33 points after opening the second half with a 10-0 run.

Christie went deep into his bench in search of answers, calling on Devin Carter, a second-year guard who hadn’t played since Nov. 12 aside from a recent stint with the G League Stockton Kings. Carter scored 15 points in 21 minutes.

Unfortunately for Sacramento, nothing seemed to work against the Nuggets. Denver led 109-81 at the end of the third quarter and led by as many as 37 in the fourth.

Up next

The Kings will travel to face the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday at Target Center in Minneapolis.

The Kings have already played the Timberwolves three times this season, losing 144-117 on Nov. 9 in Sacramento and 124-110 on Nov. 14 in Minnesota before beating the Timberwolves 117-112 in overtime on Nov. 24 in Sacramento.

The Timberwolves (15-9) are led by Anthony Edwards, who is averaging 28.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists, and Julius Randle, who averages 22.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 6.0 assists.