The Sacramento Kings play host to the Memphis Grizzlies at Golden 1 Center on Thursday.

The Grizzlies (28-26) come into this matchup winning 15 of their last 19 games and it has this franchise in a spot that they couldn't possibly have dreamt of. They are now sitting eighth in the west, currently four games up on the Portland Trail Blazers in ninth. That's quite the cushion with fewer than 30 games remaining and making the postseason would be a miraculous turn for a team that many people thought were rebuilding. This is the ideal position for a rebuilding franchise to be in though, with their youngsters out-performing all expectations. Players like Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr and Dillon Brooks have all shown major growth this season and it's scary to think how good they can be once these guys reach their peak.

The Kings (21-33) had higher expectations than the Grizzlies and the year has gone about as poorly as possible. This looked like a growing team behind De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Marvin Bagley III but its been anything but. If anything, this franchise has taken a step backwards after an impressive 2018-19 season. Injuries, poor play and questionable coaching has landed them with this ugly record and its amazing just how far this offense has fallen. After ranking Top-5 in scoring throughout most of last year, the Kings are now 24th in scoring this year. That's not good enough for such a young and talented team and its a wonder why it's continued like this all year.

These teams have played twice this season, with the home team prevailing in both games. Prior to that, the Kings won four of their previous five games over the Grizzlies.