The Sacramento Kings desperately need a win. After losing seven of their last nine games, they now only hold a half game lead over the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks in the standings. And if both of them jump them in the leaderboards, the Kings will be out of the Play-In Tournament before it even begins.
Unfortunately, their next opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder (who they will likely play in the first round if they make the playoffs), owns the best record, defensive rating, and net rating in the entire league. So, getting back on track against them won't be easy.
Who will the Kings have available to them for this important outing? What about the Thunder? Here is the full injury report ahead of this game.
Sacramento Kings Injury Report
Outside of a few brief rough patches, the Kings have been a pretty healthy team for most of the season. On the year, they have the third-fewest dollars lost from player injuries of any team in the NBA (per Spotrac). However, tonight looks like it will be a different story.
The Kings have yet to submit their injury report for this game, which is pretty normal when the team played a game the night before.
What we do know is that Devin Carter (illness), Doug McDermott (elbow), and Malik Monk (illness) all missed yesterday's loss to the Boston Celtics. So, those three will probably be on the injury report in some capacity ahead of tonight's contest.
All three of those guys were listed as "questionable" against the Celtics. If they had a roughly 50/50 chance of playing in that game, then they should all theoretically have a realistic shot of being active for tonight's competition.
Update: Monk is out for tonight's game. McDermott and Carter are cleared to play.
Oklahoma City Thunder Injury Report
Unlike the Kings, the Thunder have already submitted their official injury report, and their list is even longer than what we expected from the Kings.
The Thunder have four players who definitely will not play (listed as "out") in Ousmane Dieng (calf), Alex Ducas (quad), Nikola Topic (knee), and Ajay Mitchell (toe).
Two of their three best players (Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams) carry the "questionable" designation. Ironically enough, Holmgren is dealing with a left hip strain, while Williams is battling a right hip strain.
Isaiah Hartenstein is on the injury report, but his status is "available." So, expect him to suit up for tonight's game.
After this game, the Kings get a day off before hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday, March 27.