Kings-Grizzlies Matchup of the Game: Keegan Murray vs Jaren Jackson Jr.

The Sacramento Kings (33-33) have lost four straight games and things don't get any easier tonight as they host the Memphis Grizzlies (43-25) tonight at the Golden 1 Center.

Ja Morant may be out, but the Grizzlies are one of the deepest teams in the league, as they lead the league with 45.6 bench points per game. The Grizzlies are in a unique position to be able to replace their stars production.

For the matchup of the game, we look at a clash that could make or break either team. Memphis has one of the biggest lineups in the NBA, starting both 6-foot-10 Jaren Jackson Jr. and 7-foot-4 Zach Edey.

The matchup could easily be Domantas Sabonis against his rookie counterpart, but for tonight we look at Jackson Jr. versus Keegan Murray. It feels like either the Kings or the Grizzlies will have to adjust their lineups to match their opponent, and Sacramento forcing Memphis to adjust to them feels like the best way to get back in the win column.

Season Stats:

• Keegan Murray: 12.3 PTS, 6.7 REB, 1.4 AST, 0.8 STL, 0.9 BLK, 44.0 FG%, 33.2 3P%

• Jaren Jackson Jr.: 22.7 PTS, 5.8 REB, 2.1 AST, 1.3 STL, 1.7 BLK, 50.1 FG%, 36.7 3P%

It's hard to look at a matchup against one of the leading candidates for defensive player of the year and think that the Kings should attack Jackson Jr, but the Kings should attack Jackson Jr. via Keegan Murray.

Whether it be off-ball movement, working him through Sabonis screens, or attacking off the dribble, it would be great to see Murray be aggressive and use his speed to his advantage. Not that Jackson Jr is slow, but it could be an advantage for the Kings to at least look at early.

This whole concept could go awry, very quickly. It feels like Murray either plays extremely aggressive or fades away on offense to focus on defense and rebounding. What the Kings can't afford is to have Murray have little to no impact on offense and let Jackson Jr. get loose as a help defender.

On offense for Jackson Jr, he can score from almost everywhere on the court, but he loves the floater area, leading the league with 7.5 attempts in the zone per game, and makes them at a 53.2% clip.

Murray has had a tremendous year defensively, but tonight will be a test going against someone with the skillset of Jaren Jackson Jr. If the matchup skews toward the Grizzlies early, don't be surprised to see a lot of Sabonis and Jonas Valančiūnas minutes to counteract Memphis' size.

Stat predictions:

Keegan Murray: 24 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK

Jaren Jackson Jr: 21 PTS, 7 REB, 5 AST, 0 STL, 3 BLK

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