There were high hopes that DeMarcus Cousins would be able to make his return tonight against the visiting Toronto Raptors after missing the previous two games to a virus, but those hopes have been dashed as he has been declared inactive for tonight's game. Cousins tried to give it a go earlier, participating in both shootaround and working out before the game, but while he felt better, he was still not 100% and did not feel he could play. Ryan Hollins will likely get his 3rd consecutive start in Cousins' absence.
The Kings have yet to win a game without DeMarcus Cousins since Michael Malone has been Head Coach, and tonight offers yet another realistic possibility of that trend continuing. With Cousins, the Kings had a big frontcourt advantage against the Raptors but now it's arguable that Toronto has the advantage in both the backcourt and the frontcourt. Toronto currently holds the best record in the Eastern Conference at 13-4 but did just recently lose to a bad Lakers team the other night.
The Kings don't play again until Friday after this one, so Cousins should have plenty of time to recover and get back to full health before returning to action.