NBA Play-In: The Pelicans overtake the Kings without Zion Williamson and face the Thunder as number 8

Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans in the NBA Play-In Tournament. (` Photo/Gerald Herbert)

It was no Zion Williamson, no problem for the New Orleans Pelicans. At least on Friday.

The Pelicans defeated the Sacramento Kings 105-98 in the final game of the NBA Play-In Tournament on Friday, despite losing their most famous player to a hamstring injury in the previous game. As number 8 in the West, they will now face the top seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.

The loss ends the Kings' season, which continued on Friday with a cathartic win over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. The team still hasn't won a playoff series since 2004.

Brandon Ingram led the Pelicans with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists on an impressive night for a team that went 49-33 in the regular season. Sacramento held the lead early, but the Pelicans, with an enthusiastic Smoothie King Center crowd behind them, took control late in the second quarter and led by at least five points throughout the second half.

A 10-0 run early in the fourth quarter nearly clinched the game, although a late run by the Kings brought the lead back to single digits.

Now the Pelicans have the Thunder to worry about, and Williamson likely won't help them. He was diagnosed with a hamstring strain and will be re-evaluated in more than a week, leaving the Pelicans Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co. without him. The Pelicans lost 2-1 to the Thunder in the regular season.

Game 1 is scheduled for Sunday at 8:30 p.m. CT in Oklahoma City (TNT).

Where do the kings go from here?

The Kings entered this season with higher hopes than ever before. De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis led Sacramento to the third-best record in the West with one of the NBA's best offenses.

That season ended disappointingly with a seven-game loss to the Warriors in the first round, but there remained hope. The core of the team was young: Fox, Sabonis, Keegan Murray, Malik Monk and Kevin Hurter were all 27 or younger. It was reasonable to expect improvement, but instead the Kings experienced stagnation.

It would be unreasonable to say that the Kings need to go back to the drawing board after two postseason disappointments, but they clearly can't approach this offseason thinking that they just need a complementary piece here or there. Life in the Western Conference is never easy.

The Kings owe the Hawks their first-round draft pick this year as part of the trade for Huerter. If they want to double down on this core, it might be time to trade even more draft capital for a veteran who slots in somewhere between Fox and Sabonis.