If the regular season ended today, the Kings would qualify for the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference with a first-round matchup against the two-time defending NBA-champion Golden State Warriors in an Interstate 80 playoff series for the ages.
The idle Kings (30-26) moved into the eighth spot Monday night when the Los Angeles Clippers (31-27) lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Kings now lead the Clippers by percentage points in the conference standings. They are one game behind the seventh-place San Antonio Spurs and two games ahead of the 10th-place Los Angeles Lakers.