"Injuries, illness and experimentation have affected the Kings' ability to establish much consistency with their starting lineup this season.

The Kings have used eight different lineups in their first 26 games.

Recently, though, it appears they have settled into a regular starting five.

The lineup of Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton, John Salmons, Jason Thompson and DeMarcus Cousins has started five consecutive games, and the Kings are 6-1 after Thursday night's victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder when running that lineup out for tip-off.

With that in mind, said head coach Keith Smart, "Why would I change it?"

Having an established starting unit, Smart said, allows those players to develop chemistry with each other and lets the Kings define roles for their reserves."