Sacramento’s preseason took a hard turn with 2:32 left in the second quarter at Chase Center on Saturday night. Maxime Raynaud set a screen on Stephen Curry to free Darius Acuff Jr., absorbed contact around the knee, and went straight to the floor. He screamed and grabbed his right knee. He did not get up on his own.
Kings coach Doug Christie called a timeout. Trainers waved for help and for a wheelchair. Raynaud covered his face while teammates circled him, then was lifted into the chair and rolled toward the locker room with general manager Scott Perry walking beside him. Owner Vivek Ranadive checked on him in the hallway.
What Sacramento Has Actually Said
Very little, and that is the honest version of this story. The Kings listed a right knee injury and ruled him out at halftime. No diagnosis has been announced and no timetable has been given.
Christie would not speculate afterward. “We’re going to wait and get everything before we even speak on that,” he told reporters. He was warmer about the player than the prognosis, saying simply, “Love him,” and adding that Raynaud “is part of everything that we do.”
Raynaud left the locker room on crutches with an ice bag strapped to the knee, smiling, telling reporters he was headed for an MRI right away. He was also reported to be unable to put weight on the leg. Those two details sit uncomfortably next to each other, and until the imaging comes back nobody outside the building knows which one matters more.
Curry Did Nothing Wrong Here
The replay is ugly and the cause is unclear. Raynaud was caught between Curry and Acuff as Curry came off the pick, and Curry’s knee appears to graze him. It is also possible Raynaud’s knee buckled as he planted. Nobody has reported that Curry was hurt, and nobody has suggested the contact was anything other than a screen going the way screens go a hundred times a night.
That is worth stating plainly, because the clip is circulating with Curry’s name attached to it. This was ordinary basketball contact in an exhibition game. Blame is not the story.
Why This Stings for the Kings
Raynaud was the most encouraging thing about Sacramento’s October. He had 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting, including a three, plus 3-of-3 from the line, with five rebounds, an assist and a block in under nine minutes before he went down. Across the preseason he averaged 12.5 points and 9.0 rebounds.
The 23-year-old Frenchman was the 42nd pick in 2025 and made the All-Rookie Second Team, averaging 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds over 74 games. He added 20 to 25 pounds of muscle over the summer and it showed. The Kings lost 111-106 with Acuff posting 25 points and eight assists, which would have been the headline on any other night.
Sacramento opens the regular season in under two weeks. If the MRI comes back clean, this becomes a scare the Kings laugh about by November. If it does not, a rebuilding roster loses its best young big man before the first tip, and nothing on the bench replaces what Raynaud was starting to become.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.