The Sacramento Kings play host to the Chicago Bulls at Golden One Center on Monday.

The Bulls (28-32) have traded off wins and losses in their last five games, getting beaten by the Milwaukee Bucks in their most recent outing on Friday. They showed a lack of discipline in that defeat, with DeMar DeRozan shoving Bobby Portis and Nikola Vucevic being ejected for a flagrant 2. The middling stretch is no surprise when you look at the standing because the Bulls have been hovering around .500 all season. That will likely earn them a berth in the Play-In Tournmament though, sitting ninth in the Eastern Conference. They were actually outed by the Miami Heat in that last season and one has to wonder where this franchise goes from here.

The Kings (34-25) come into this matchup winning four of their last six games. Their only defeats in that stretch were losses against the two Finals teams from last year, and it's clear Sacramento is a team to reckon with. Their biggest goal right now is to avoid the Play-In Tourney, though. They currently sit seventh in the Western Conference but are just 0.5 games behind the Phoenix Suns in sixth. They're also just one game back of the New Orleans Pelicans in fifth, and it's tough to get a read on how those teams will play out. What's clear is that all of these teams will have to battle one another to get out of the West, and it'll be fun to watch come April and May.

These teams played on February 3, with Sacramento prevailing, 123-115. That gives the Kings 10 wins in their last 12 matchups with the Bulls in total.