The Clippers have their stars, but a key piece remains out.
The Los Angeles Clippers are heading into Sunday night's game against the Sacramento Kings in a good spot health-wise, and they need to take advantage of it.
At 39-38 and sitting ninth in the Western Conference, the Clippers cannot afford to drop games against bad teams with five left on the schedule.
Sacramento is 21-57 and locked into one of the worst records in the league, so this is the kind of game Los Angeles has to win if they want to avoid the play-in tournament's tougher road.
The Clippers' Injury Situation
The good news for the Clippers is that their injury report is short heading into Sunday's matchup at Golden 1 Center.
Isaiah Jackson remains out with a right ankle sprain he suffered back on March 28 against Indiana, and the team announced earlier this week that he would be re-evaluated in one week.
His estimated return date is around April 10 against Portland, which means he will also miss Tuesday's game against Dallas and Wednesday's matchup with Oklahoma City.
Beyond Jackson, the only other players listed are Bradley Beal and Yanic Konan Niederhauser, both of whom have been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Beal is recovering from hip surgery and Konan Niederhauser is dealing with a Lisfranc foot injury.
The biggest positive on the report is that Kawhi Leonard does not carry an injury designation despite playing through a wrist issue since the Raptors game on March 26.
Leonard has been the engine behind everything the Clippers do, averaging 28.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game this season while shooting 50.5 percent from the field.
He has scored at least 20 points in 53 straight games dating back to November, and his willingness to fight through the wrist problem tells you how much these final games matter to him.
Sacramento Is Running on Fumes
The Kings will be severely short-handed on the other side. Domantas Sabonis is done for the year after undergoing knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. Zach LaVine had season-ending hand surgery.
De'Andre Hunter is out following eye surgery, and Drew Eubanks is finished with a torn UCL in his thumb.
On top of all that, Keegan Murray is out with a left ankle sprain, Russell Westbrook is sidelined with a right toe issue, and Malik Monk's availability remains uncertain after missing time with a shoulder problem.
Without Sabonis, LaVine, Murray and Westbrook, the Kings are left leaning on DeMar DeRozan, rookie Nique Clifford and guys like Killian Hayes and Daeqwon Plowden who are on short-term deals.
What It All Means for Sunday
The Clippers should control this game from start to finish if they play with any kind of urgency.
Darius Garland has been averaging 19.1 points and 6.9 assists since joining the team at the trade deadline, and having both him and Leonard healthy against a depleted roster is exactly the advantage Los Angeles needs right now.
The biggest challenge will be interior depth with Jackson out, leaving Brook Lopez as the only real center option and putting more pressure on John Collins and Nicolas Batum to fill minutes in the frontcourt.
But against a Kings team that is missing its best big man in Sabonis and has nothing to play for down the stretch, that should be manageable.
The Clippers have already won the season series 2-1, though Sacramento did grab the last meeting 118-109 on March 14. Tip-off is set for 9 p.m. ET at Golden 1 Center.