Another appearance in the NBA play-in tournament will offer a bit of a reprieve, but the Kings could be headed for a summer of change following a season that has fallen short of expectations.

The No. 9 Kings (40-42) will play the No. 10 Dallas Mavericks (39-43) in the first round of the Western Conference play-in tournament Wednesday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

The Kings produced their third consecutive 40-win season — something they haven’t done since 2004-06 — but they finished under .500 after posting back-to-back winning seasons the past two years.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Kings center Domantas Sabonis said. “A lot of things happened in one year. We ended up getting 40 (wins). It’s not the number we wanted or the seed we wanted, but I feel like we’re playing our best basketball these last six, seven games, eight games, and we’ve got to use that momentum into the play-ins.”

To attain their goal of reaching the playoffs, the Kings will have to beat the Mavericks and then go on the road to beat the loser of Tuesday’s game between the No. 7 Golden State Warriors and No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies.

A play-in scenario was always a possibility for Sacramento, but the Kings had higher hopes after adding DeMar DeRozan to a core that already featured De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter, Keegan Murray and Sabonis. Some prognosticators thought the Kings could win as many as 50 games to earn one of six automatic playoff berths.

Instead, coach Mike Brown was fired, Fox and Huerter were traded, and interim coach Doug Christie was tasked with picking up the pieces. After going 13-18 to start the season, the Kings went 27-24 in 51 games under Christie despite major roster changes and numerous injuries to key players.

Christie addressed his team after the Kings beat the Phoenix Suns 109-98 on Sunday to secure homecourt advantage in the first round of the play-in tournament.

“I told them I’m very proud of the fight, the determination that they showed in the face of a lot of different adversity that’s gone on this year,” Christie said. “That’s a big credit to them, so congratulations to them, our organization and the city.”

Kings guard Keon Ellis said the team is building cohesiveness and confidence after winning four of its last six games.

“I think we feel good,” Ellis said. “The last couple of games, we’ve been playing some good basketball, playing some good teams, some playoff teams, so the effort, the energy and the focus, everything is there.”