Preview: Suns Welcome Kings in Important Test

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns (21-18) are looking to win the only game of this quick trip home against the Sacramento Kings (23-16) before heading out on the road once again.

The Suns are coming off of a closer than anticipated victory over a depleted Portland Trail Blazers squad while Sacramento is coming off of a gut-wrenching loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at the buzzer.

Phoenix has already ruled Bol Bol out for the game - an injury that changed from foot soreness to a foot sprain, while Sacramento F Keegan Murray is questionable with a hip injury.

Three things to look for going into tonight:

Kings' Recent Performance

The Kings are 6-4 in their last 10 games, but have dropped their past two contests.

Sacramento's recent stretch of victories haven't been extremely telling of what team they are at the moment with wins against largely underwhelming competition such as the Toronto Raptors and Atlanta Hawks.

Sacramento has also suffered some horrendous losses, including a loss to the LaMelo Ball-less Charlotte Hornets and a pair of anemic offensive showings in losses to the New Orleans Pelicans/Philadelphia 76ers.

The overall trend for Sacramento is that they go as far as the offense takes them.

The very small positive gap in scoring differential means that the Kings tend to either win close or lose ugly, the loss against Milwaukee on Sunday night was a rare occurrence in which they lost a close game.

Standings Implications

Phoenix continues to sit firmly in the play-in picture as the eight seed - two games behind Sacramento, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Pelicans - all three are tied in the standings.

The Suns are also only a half a game ahead of the red-hot Utah Jazz, a loss would mean the two are tied in the standings but Phoenix owns the head-to-head tiebreaker.

A Phoenix win tonight will place them one game behind Sacramento, while trailing both Dallas and New Orleans by one and a half games.

A win against Sacramento could go a long way towards climbing the standings prior to the All-Star break. Phoenix faces New Orleans on Friday night, Dallas on Jan 24, and Sacramento on Feb 13- all prior to the week-long break.

Player to Watch: Kevin Huerter

Huerter is coming off of possibly his best performance of the season against the Bucks - finishing the game with 26 points and 10 rebounds on an efficient 10-14 from the field.

Huerter has been in something of a slump for much of the 23-24 season after averaging a career-high 15.1 PPG in his first season in Sacramento.

Huerter has started 32 of 37 potential games this year, but his playing time has been cut by six minutes a game, his shooting volume is down, and his efficiency is way down in every area outside of free throws.

Huerter remains a dangerous shooter and shot creator despite inconsistencies this season - the performance against Milwaukee proves as much.

While Sacramento is flush with strong scorers and creators, Huerter is quite possibly the one whose the most under-the-radar.