DeMarcus Cousins Will Play Versus Bucks Tonight

Things have changed just a bit for the Sacramento Kings since DeMarcus Cousins was sidelined with viral meningitis. Let’s hope his game hasn’t; we’ll find out tonight. Boogie is starting on Thursday in his team’s matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Cousins has been practicing with the Kings all week, and was listed as questionable leading up to tonight’s contest before being upgraded to probable a few hours ago. Now comes news that he will start and play on a strict minutes restriction:

Sacramento has gone 2-8 during Cousins’ absence, and abruptly fired coach Mike Malone on Monday night. The Kings were the surprise of basketball after the season’s first month, winning nine of their first 14 games as Cousins established himself as an early MVP candidate.

Sacramento lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night in Ty Corbin’s first game as interim coach, and is now a season-worst three games below .500 at 11-14.

Could Cousins’ return spur the Kings to heights of mid-November? Perhaps, but an in-season coaching change always complicates things. And with the rise of Oklahoma City, it likely wouldn’t even matter in terms of the playoff race – Sacramento is one and-a-half games back of eighth in the West, and the ninth-place Thunder have won eight consecutive games.

Regardless, it will be fun to have Boogie back. We missed him.

What do you think?

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