The Dallas Mavericks come into town tonight but with playoffs all but a lost cause for them at this point, it seems as if they’re ready to call it a season themselves and play out the string, or in layman’s terms, tank. The Mavericks reportedly have Dirk Nowitzki, J.J. Barea, Harrison Barnes and Seth Curry all listed as questionable, with Wesley Matthews as completely out. By comparison the Kings will only be missing Arron Afflalo, Kosta Koufos and Anthony Tolliver.

The difference between a team like the Mavericks resting guys and the Kings is that when the Mavericks rest their vets, the difference is stark. With the Kings, the team might actually be a little bit better as the young guys aren’t necessarily that much worse than the vets and given that Sacramento only really has four young players to play at this point, the vets still get plenty of time.

The Mavericks are in a little bit of a rebuilding stage for them as well, although it’s hard to completely commit to a rebuild while the legendary Dirk Nowitzki’s still on the team. Nowitzki likely doesn’t have much longer in the league and if the Mavericks aren’t good enough to be making the playoffs, that time might come sooner rather than later.

Dallas did invest quite a lot of money this summer in getting a young asset for the future in Harrison Barnes. Barnes didn’t elevate the Mavericks as they had hoped but he has had a pretty good first season with Dallas. Seth Curry was another nice addition, signing a cheap contract with Dallas after Sacramento decided to withdraw their qualifying offer. Curry has become a quality rotation player for the Mavs, averaging 12.8 points a game on 48.1% from the field and 42.5% from three. He’s still more of a SG than a PG though, averaging just 2.7 assists on the year.

This is a very winnable game for the Kings, especially at home and especially if all of those questionable players for Dallas don’t play. Here’s hoping for some big games from the young fellas, especially Skal, who has had a rough week or so since coming on strong.

Tip-off’s at 7:30 p.m. Go Kings!