Sacramento Kings: 3 Keys To A Successful Road Trip
The Sacramento Kings have lost four of their last six games. What will be the keys to getting back on track during their upcoming road trip?
After a quick two-game homestand, the Sacramento Kings are ready to embark on yet another road trip. The four away games will include the first stop in Portland, followed by trio of teams in the Texas triangle.
The Kings find themselves in a tough spot after an ugly home loss to the lowly Chicago Bulls on Monday night with a batch of very important games looming. On the road trip, they will play against two of the Western Conference’s elite teams as well as two games against other 8th seed contenders.
While every game is important when you’re chasing one of the final playoff spots, this particular stretch is crucial for the Kings if they want to remain in the hunt by the time they get back to full strength.
Here are three things that the Sacramento Kings can do to have a successful road trip:
Get Healthy, Stay Healthy
The return of Marvin Bagley has been on the minds of Kings fans for the last couple of weeks, and he is scheduled to be re-evaluated on Wednesday, six weeks after fracturing his thumb.
The original diagnosis was that the second-year big man would miss 4-6 weeks, so the anticipation and impatience are getting stronger with each passing game. If Bagley is able to make a return sometime during the road trip, it will be an added boost to a front line and roster that needs it.
Given how thin some spots of the roster are due to injury, the Kings will need to remain healthy at least until De’Aaron Fox is able to return from his Grade 3 ankle sprain.
That notion is not off to a good start, as it was revealed that Bogdan Bogdanovic is still laboring over an injury to his quad that he suffered a couple of weeks ago. His status for the four-game road trip is unknown, though missing time is a possibility, according to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.
While they need all of the firepower that they can get, the Kings might be wise to rest Bogdanovic for the game against Portland in order to let the hamstring heal before heading south to Texas.