On March 15th, Domantas Sabonis recorded his second triple-double in as many games against the Chicago Bulls. His 14 points, 10 assists, 17 rebounds somewhat went underdiscussed after some guy named De'Aaron Fox hit a game-winner following DeMar DeRozan’s four point play to tie the game. But also underdiscussed: that triple-double put him at 11 on the season, now second most in the NBA behind Nikola Jokic’s incredible 28.

Sabonis has quietly had a career defining season. His 19.2 points per game (ninth among centers) is his best since 2020-21. He’s averaging career highs in rebounds (12.5, best in the NBA) and assists (7.2, second best among centers in the NBA). His splits have been amazing– 61.2% from the field (career high) and 35.5% from deep (arguably the best of his career if we don’t count 52.9% in 2018-19 on 0.2 attempts per game).

But it is tough to talk about a player like Sabonis – not because he isn’t great, but because of the two centers ahead of him in Jokic and Embiid. And Jokic is arguably a better version of what he offers. Then again, he wasn’t selected last when it came to the NBA All-Star Game. He was second to last among the reserves. Things might be changing.

The Sacramento Kings will never be his team while alongside De’Aaron Fox yet in many ways, his influence this season could create the argument that he has been the most important when it comes to this Kings glow-up. And before anyone gets way too deep into the weeds, Fox is clearly the best player, I’m just gassing up Sabonis.

Sabonis is very much an underrated passer. Per game, he’s recording five or more passes to six different Kings players. He, Jokic and Vucevic are the only three centers in the NBA to average more than 50 passes made per game. And his assists pointed created (19.2) averages out to 2.667 points per assist – speaking to just how good he has been about finding the open man to generate a good three-point look. For reference, Jokic is looking at 2.49 points per assist, Karl-Anthony Towns is averaging 2.34, Julius Randle is at 2.68 and Embiid is at 2.54. It does help that Sabonis has players like Kevin Huerter, Keegan Murray, Malik Monk and Harrison Barnes being absolute friends behind the arch. But they still need the ball in their hands to shoot. It has also been nice to see his flexibility in the post – passing 49.2% in post-up situations.

And what has also been refreshing is that he isn’t reliant on the pick-and-roll – averaging only 2.5 possessions per game. Instead, it has been his plays cutting to the basket, give-and-go situations – scoring 68% of the time and getting to the line 20.9% of the time on 3.8 possessions per game.

While everyone knows where his scoring is coming from—78% of his shots coming less than 8 ft from the basket—he’s shown a flexibility of he to get there. Overall, he has quietly been assisted less than his two counter parts – 60.5% of his makes being assisted compared to Embiid and Jokic’s 63.4%. And less than 8 ft from the basket, he’s assisted 55.4% of the time compared to Jokic’s 59.7% and Embiid’s 64%.

This isn’t trying to break the wheel, change the world or the narrative that it isn’t a two-man race for best center in the NBA right now. But Sabonis is quietly making a good case to create some separation from the rest of the NBA when it comes to the argument around best centers. Still not a defensive juggernaut, his contribution on the offensive end has been incredibly important to one of the best stories in the NBA -- if not the best. And while he continues to receive recognition (3x All Star, 4 All-NBA votes in 2020-21), it might be time to start taking his campaign a little bit more serious.