3 Teams the Kings absolutely do not want to face in the Play-In Tournament

1. Dallas Mavericks 

The Kings have faced the Mavericks twice so far and won both games. Dallas now looks much improved, however. Kyrie Irving is healthy and back in the lineup, which is never good news for the opposition, and the addition of P.J. Washington and Daniel Gafford has really helped them.

The Mavericks have won all of their last six games decisively, including a huge win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. If they can avoid it, the Kings probably do not want to face Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving at full strength. 

If not everyone is locked in, they just don’t have the defense to deal with two of the best perimeter scorers in the league for 48 minutes in such a high-stakes game. 

If the season ended today, that would be the matchup, however. Luckily, there is still some time left to change the standings. There are no good matchups in the West, but there certainly are better ones for the Kings. 

The Lakers, for example, are a team the Kings have beaten in the past that did not get better at the trade deadline. The easiest way to avoid all of this would be to take care of the rest of the regular season with some good wins and move back into sixth place. The Kings’ remaining schedule is tough, however, and it will take everyone playing their best basketball to get there.