Composition of kings against nuggets, injury report, use of player

Welcome to the land of the living.

After starting the 0-2 season, the Sacramento Kings surprised the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday with a 131-120 win at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The trip will not be easier Tuesday night as the Kings face the Denver Nuggets 3-0 at the Pepsi Center. It is a battle of two powerful faults with an altitude of several miles.

The pre-game show on NBC Sports Bay, California begins at 5:30 pm and is scheduled for 6 pm

After the game, the Kings will return home at Golden 1 Center to face the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday's second night. It's a brief respite for the Kings, who host the Washington Wizards on Friday before heading home for another four-game trip.

Line

Nuggets by 11

Projected starting compositions

kings
PG De'Aaron Fox
SG Buddy Hield
SF Iman Shumpert
PF Nemanja Bjelica
C Willie Cauley-Stein

nuggets
PG Jamal Murray
SG Gary Harris
SF Torrey Craig
PF Paul Millsap
C Nikola Jokic

Injury report

kings
SG Bogdan Bogdanovic (left knee) OUT, C Kosta Koufos (hamstrings) OUT.

nuggets
SF Will Barton (adductor) OUT, PG Isaiah Thomas (hip) OUT, SF Michael Porter Jr. (back) OUT, F Jarred Vanderbilt (foot) OUT.

Outlook rotation

kings
Coach Dave Joerger continues to focus on a rotation of 10 people. Against the thunder, eight of them scored two numbers and Yogi Ferrell (9 points) and Harry Giles (8 points) just missed. Joerger made a bet by starting Shumpert on Sunday and that paid off.

Expect the veteran to have a longer appearance while the Kings are looking for consistent production at the wing position. De'Aaron Fox played 42 minutes in OKC. This is the second time in three games that Fox has played more than 37 minutes in a game. He averaged 20.3 points, 7.7 assists and 5.0 rebounds early in the season.

Marvin Bagley and Harry Giles saw their minutes fluctuate considerably depending on production. This trend will likely continue as they adapt to the NBA game.

nuggets
After a two-year contract extension, Michael Malone launched his Nuggets early in the season at 3-0. He uses a rotation of 10 players like Joerger, but he has a great star player at Jokic who does a lot of work for the club.

With Will Barton in the long run, Malone has turned to the small undrafted striker, Torrey Craig, of the University of South Carolina, in the Northwest, to replace him. Gary Harris is the person to watch. The 24-year-old shooting guard averaged 22 points per game, while she shot only 18.8% long distance this season.