You want the good news or the bad news first?

Let's go bad news:

Nikola Pekovic will not play for the Wolves tonight against Sacramento because of that hurting right ankle/foot that caused him to leave Friday's game at Charlotte early in the third quarter.

He said before tonight's game that it remained too painful to really test it out Saturday or Sunday and he is hopeful two consecutive days off before the Wolves play again on Wednesday at Dallas will allow it to settle down.

Rick Adelman said rookie Gorgui Dieng will start in Pekovic's place against Kings star center DeMarcus Cousins before we learned the good news for the Wolves...

Cousins is out too, sidelined for this final game of the Kings' long seven-game road trip by right knee tendinitis.

The Wolves would have gone small with Dante Cunningham in the starting lineup instead if the Kings started Jason Thompson at "center" but Sacramento instead will go with 7-foot Aaron Gray, which means Dieng will indeed get his first NBA start.