Game Preview: Lakers At Kings

(AP) - The Los Angeles Lakers may have thought last season was difficult, but this is one is even more memorable - and for the wrong reasons.

After Dwight Buycks became the latest guard declared out for the final two games of this miserable season, the Lakers will rely heavily on a pair of former collegiate teammates heading into home-and-home set with the struggling Sacramento Kings on Monday night.

Los Angeles (21-59) missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons in 2013-14, setting a club record for the most losses in a single season with 55.

The Lakers have already surpassed that mark, and are finishing out of the postseason picture in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1975-76.

Jordan Clarkson, a second-round pick out of Missouri last summer, is providing some hope for the future, averaging 20.0 points and 6.5 assists over the past 12 games. Los Angeles will lean heavily on Clarkson and fellow rookie Jabari Brown - undrafted out of Missouri - as the only healthy guards on the roster.

Clarkson had 26 points and Brown scored 18 on Sunday, but that wasn't enough in a 120-106 loss to Dallas.

Their importance to the Lakers only increased after the game, when they announced Buycks broke his right hand and will miss the remaining two games. That injury came hours after Jeremy Lin (knee) and Nick Young (knee) were formally announced as out for the rest of the season.

"I'm just shaking my head," coach Byron Scott said. "It's just like, 'What could happen next?' but I don't want to dare ask that question. Hopefully we've got seven or eight guys healthy for the next two games, and we can finish it out."

The Lakers have lost the last two visits to Sacramento (27-53), falling 108-101 on Dec. 21 despite 26 points from Young and 25 from Kobe Bryant.

Clarkson didn't play in either meeting with the Kings, and Brown didn't join the team until signing a 10-day contract last month.

The Kings are among the worst defensive teams in the NBA, giving up an average of 105.3 points. That problem has been clear lately, as Sacramento has lost eight of nine games and has allowed 109.9 points per contest over the last seven.

The Kings are coming off their worst defensive effort of that stretch, falling 122-111 at Denver in their first game since declaring DeMarcus Cousins (ankle and leg) and Rudy Gay (concussion symptoms) shut down for the rest of the season.

Omri Casspi is trying to pick up the slack, averaging 19.0 points on 56.3 percent shooting - 11 of 21 from long range - over the past seven games. He connected on 8 of 13 field goals and finished with 22 points, seven assists and seven rebounds Sunday.

Casspi missed the first two season meetings with the Lakers with a knee injury.

Ben McLemore had 23 points and eight boards against Los Angeles on Dec. 21. He enters this matchup after posting 20 points in each of his last two games.

These teams meet again in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

Updated April 13, 2015