The second half of preseason basketball returns Monday night as the Sacramento Kings take on the Portland Trailblazers in the Moda Center at 7 p.m. The Kings will also open their regular season in Portland, so tonight’s match-up could grant Kings fans the most valuable insight thus far as to who will take the court for Sacramento next Wednesday.

Luke Walton announced yesterday that Marvin Bagley III is doubtful to play with knee soreness, so we should expect the amount of players who have seen minutes in this preseason run to dwindle. With one week until the regular season action begins, Walton is beginning to round lineups into form and get an idea of who will crack the rotation come Oct. 20.

Portland will be without a majority of their heavy hitters, including Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum, Tony Snell, Nassir Little, Ben McLemore, Norman Powell and Cody Zeller.

Needless to say tonight’s contest might look more like Summer League than a season preview — men on all 30 teams are still trying to solidify their roster spot. Matchups will undoubtedly change by next week so tonight I’ll be assessing Sacramento’s performance as a cohesive unit tonight rather than Portland’s third string.

Tonight’s contest provides an opportunity for Sacramento to thread the needle and produce four quarters of convincing winning basketball – regardless of who is on the opposing side.

This is the final game that will not be broadcast during the Kings’ preseason locally, as Thursday’s contest vs. the Los Angeles Lakers will finally be on NBC Sports California. Kings fans in the Pacific Northwest can find tonight’s game on ROOT Sports SW, or on NBA League Pass.

TV: ROOT Sports SW, NBA League Pass

Live stream: N/A

Radio: Sports 1140 KHTK