The Kings are happy to get PF/C Jason Thompson back from injury. He has played in 58 games (50 starts) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 31.5 minutes, 12.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.0 blocked shot per game. The Kings will probably get Thompson back into the starting lineup at center after he gets his legs back. Thompson & Marcus Landry should give the Kings the muscle they need around the basket the rest of the season.

Tyreke Evans has had a great rookie season for the Sacramento Kings this year, but there is another rookie in the state of California that is starting to gain some ground on him.  Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors has improved rapidly over the course of the season, and has solidified his spot at number two for the Rookie of the Year Award.  Still, Tyreke Evans has been much more consistent than Curry and was an impact player the first game of the season.  Curry took a little while to adjust to the speed and physicality of the NBA, but now that he has he is putting up some impressive numbers.  Unfortunately for both rookies, they are on some bad teams.  However, since they are on some bad teams it has given them the opportunity to get a lot of playing time and gain valuable minutes.  Evans season is more impressive than Curry’s though, despite Curry’s flashy and great play the past two months.  Evans has the consistency (and the scoring average) over Curry, so he will likely still win the ROY Award.  This season Evans is averaging 20.3 points, 5.4 assists, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 steals.  While Curry’s numbers are nearly identical to Evans in most categories, he is only averaging 16.0 points compared to Evans’ 20.3.  Both Evans and Curry will be stars in this league for years to come, but Evans has had the better rookie season.

The Kings have lost center Jason Thompson for at least the next two weeks with 2 non-displaced transverse process fractures in his lower back. Thompson has played in 55 games (50 starts) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 32.0 minutes, 12.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game. This hurts the Kings bad as Spencer Hawes is in Coach Westphal’s Dog House and even Thompson’s injury might not be enough to get him out of it.

The Kings will be without rookie forward Jon Brockman for the next 2-4 weeks due to a sprained MCL in his right knee. Brockman has played in 44 games (4 starts) for the Kings this season and he is averaging 13.6 minutes, 3.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. The Kings are going to miss Brockman a little bit as he brings good effort and rebounding off the bench.

26-year old Carl Landry was the key to the big trade that moved Kevin Martin to the Rockets. He is likely going to bump Jason Thompson from the starting lineup at power forward. Landry has played in 52 games (1 start) for the Rockets this season and he is averaging 27.2 minutes, 16.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. He has now played in 163 games (1 start) in his NBA career and he is averaging 22.0 minutes, 11.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game. Landry doesn’t take many bad shots as he has connected on 56.9% of his shots from the floor. Kevin Martin was a good player for the Kings but something just didn’t click when he returned from his broken wrist.