The Sacramento Kings play host to the New Orleans Pelicans at Golden 1 Center on Wednesday.

The Pelicans (1-7) knew they had an uphill battle when Zion Williamson (foot) was ruled out for the first month, but no one could have foreseen this start coming. New Orleans has arguably been the worst team in the NBA through the first three weeks, and it's hard to imagine it getting much better. If losing Zion wasn't important enough, they've now had to deal with an injury to Brandon Ingram. He missed the narrow loss on Tuesday, in which New Orleans blew a 20-point lead against the Phoenix Suns. Losses like that are commonplace for a struggling team like this, and the growing pains will keep coming as long as these superstars remain out.

The Kings (3-4) got off to a nice start when they grabbed road wins against the Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers but have lost two straight since. It was more tough competition, though, and it's really encouraging to see the Kings play close games night after night. They've actually only had one game all year that was decided by a double-digit margin, but even that game was close until the final moments. That means this 3-4 record is slightly unlucky because the Kings could easily be 6-1 if things fell their way. Performances like that have fans excited, but it's still discouraging to see this team below .500 once again after a decade of incompetence.

These teams played just last week, with Sacramento prevailing, 113-109. These clubs have actually traded off wins and losses in their last five meetings in total.