The Los Angeles Lakers play host to the Sacramento Kings at Staples Center on Friday.

The Kings (4-6) got off to a nightmare start this season by losing their first five games but have been a different team since. In fact, Sacramento has gone on to win four of their last five games. What's discouraging is the fact that injuries continue to hit this team hard. Losing Marvin Bagley for 4-6 weeks was brutal early on and they'll now have to play without De'Aaron Fox for the next month too. Those are young centerpieces to this franchise and it's a wonder if they can hold up with those guys missing so much time. It has thrown Bogan Bogdanovic into the mix though, as his 25 points, three rebounds, 10 assists and four steals in the most recent victory is hopefully a sign of things to come.

The Lakers (9-2) looked poised to make a deep run this season and it's truly amazing just how much they've improved. After missing the postseason last year, Los Angeles looks like a different team this season. The biggest improvement is their defense, with the Lakers owning the best defensive rating in the NBA. This is a club that has been bottom-half of the league in that statistic throughout most of the last decade and it's becoming clear that the additions of Avery Bradley, Danny Green and Dwight Howard are really helping them on the end of the floor. Getting Anthony Davis and his 25 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks can't hurt the defense either. All of that doesn't even take into consideration that LeBron James is leading the NBA in assists, despite this being his 18th season in the league.

Los Angeles has won five of its last seven games against Sacramento.