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

The Pelicans (4-7) come into this matchup in the midst of a five-game losing streak. The most recent loss came on Friday, with the Los Angeles Lakers handing them a 112-95 beatdown. What made that blowout loss even more frustrating was the fact that the Pelicans had a 15-point lead in the second quarter. An epic collapse like that has become way too common for this team and it was embarrassing for guys like Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart to get obliterated by the team that traded them away. What's weird is that the issues have been flip-flopped from last season. The offense was elite last year while the defense struggled but a 27th-ranked offense and 7th-ranked defense this year paint a different picture. A lot of that has to do with Stan Van Gundy and one has to believe it's just a matter of time before all of these talented players start clicking on the offensive end as well.

The Kings (5-8) have been in quite the slump themselves, losing seven of their last nine games. The nature of those defeats has been horrendous too, with three of the last four being huge blowouts. The one other loss was against the Portland Trail Blazers, in which Sacramento blew a double-digit lead. The most recent defeat on Friday might have been the most disturbing though, taking a 138-100 obliteration by the Los Angeles Clippers. Sacramento was just letting Los Angeles walk in for lay-ups all game long and it's clear this club doesn't understand how to play defense. The statistics back that up, with the Kings allowing 123.2 points per game, the worst mark in the NBA. There's too much talent on this team to be taking losses like that and many people are calling for Luke Walton's job after yet another disappointing start to the season.

These teams played three times last season, with Sacramento winning two of three.