Kings-Hornets Matchup of the Game: Keegan Murray vs Miles Bridges

The Sacramento Kings (36-40) continue their final road trip of the season against the Charlotte Hornets (19-57). After a disappointing loss to the Washington Wizards, the Kings are once again faced with a game they should theoretically win easily.

Even more so, the Hornets injury report is filled with players to push the edge even further in Sacramento's favor.

For most teams in the league, that sounds for a recipe for success, but for the struggling Kings, going against a losing team without their star players sends shivers down fan's spines.

For the matchup of the game, we look at the one key player that is suiting up for the Hornets and one of the few players on the Kings who is still a bright spot in the recent difficult stretch of games for Sacramento.

Season Stats:

Keegan Murray: 12.6 PTS, 6.7 REB, 1.4 AST, 0.8 STL, 0.9 BLK, 44.8 FG%, 35.0 3P%

Miles Bridges: 20.6 PTS, 7.7 REB, 4.0 AST, 0.7 STL, 0.7 BLK, 43.6 FG%, 31.9 3P%

While the Kings have struggled, there have been flashes of Keegan Murray continuing to show progress in his third year. It's been an odd year for the young wing, with tremendous growth on defense and rebounding, but there have been far too many times where it feels like Murray fades away on offense.

While his three-point percentage sits at 35% on the season, he's quietly put together a long stretch of plus shooting from deep to get it up to that point. In the last 29 games, Murray has shot 40% from three on 6.4 attempts per game.

During the stretch, Murray has continued to play plus-level defense and grab six rebounds per contest.

The problem is that there are still too many games where Murray just doesn't shoot enough. It's hard with this roster as currently constructed, but it feels like Murray is being underutilized on offense.

With Domantas Sabonis questionable for tonight's contest, there will be more shots to go around that might be best to go to Murray.

For the Hornets, Miles Bridges is one of their few prominent players that will step on the court tonight, and will likely receive the bulk of the Kings attention. Bridges isn't the best three-point shooter, but the Kings can't let him get going from beyond the arc tonight.

The area where Bridges thrives the most is in getting to the rim, which has been another struggle for Sacramento this season. Whether it's Domantas Sabonis or Jonas Valančiūnas, the Kings bigs will need to be ready to help at the rim against the athletic wing tonight.

Stat predictions:

Keegan Murray: 14 PTS, 7 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK

Miles Bridges: 16 PTS, 8 REB, 3 AST, 0 STL, 1 BLK

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