Kings vs. Trail Blazers Preview: The NBA Cup is Half Empty

I’m not sure who needed the last two days off more, the Sacramento Kings, or Sacramento Kings fans, but the team is back in action tonight to face a pretty decent Trail Blazers team. Let’s get to it.

Who: Sacramento Kings (1-10) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (8-3)
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
When: 7:00 PM PT / 10:00 PM ET
Watch: NBCSCA / League Pass

The Kings are spiraling, but thankfully totally-awake-and-not-asleep-at-the-wheel General Manager Scott Perry has brought in some much-needed help in the form of 36-year-old veteran center Mason Plumlee! Hooray. At last review of Sacramento’s injury report, the only new name on it is Precious Achiuwa (questionable) so we may actually see some Plumdog Millionaire tonight. Portland will be without Ja Morant, Vit Krejci, and Shaedon Sharpe.

Needless to say, but I will say it: the Kings need a win. They need many wins, but one at home tonight against a solid Portland team will at least stop the bleeding for a moment. My eyes will be on a few things: Domantas Sabonis was awful against the Magic a few nights ago, but he swears he’s 100% healthy. Will he give the Kings… anything? Keegan Murray looked a little more like Keegan Murray against Orlando, does he get back in the starting lineup tonight? Speaking of the Magic loss, Doug Christie’s rotation down the stretch was horrendous. Will the coach put his team in a position to win? Or will Sacramento get blown out once again, forcing us to consider how much longer Christie will last… a conversation that already feels like it’s been going on for weeks.

The Kings are bad, but at least all this tension has my attention. I can’t look away. Oh, one more thing: this is an NBA Cup game, apparently, for anyone who still cares about that.

Prediction: Kings 117, Trail Blazers 115.