The In-Season Tournament carries a little more weight for teams like the New Orleans Pelicans (11-9). Winning the NBA Cup is a nice notch on the belt of a legitimate championship contender, but it can be a crucial coming-of-age moment for a franchise desperate to ascend into the next tier.

That being said, the Pels are intent on leaving the Golden 1 Center Monday night with a quarterfinals victory over the Sacramento Kings (10-7) and a ticket to Las Vegas. They will likely need to be at full strength, though.

And that should hopefully be the case. CJ McCollum, who is not present for Saturday's matchup against the Chicago Bulls, will rejoin the team for its trip out west, per NBC Sports. The 2016 Most Improved Player of the Year was previously not cleared for air travel, hence his absence in the Windy City, but he will be given the green light for the In-Season Tournament showdown.

McCollum missed more than three weeks of action in November after suffering a collapsed lung (second time in his career) and fractured rib before returning to the Pelicans this past Wednesday. He scored 20 points and shot the ball adequately, and then recorded 19 points and eight assists in Friday's 121-106 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

An active McCollum greatly increases New Orleans' prospects in the NBA In-Season Tournament. The Kings will be waiting on Monday night, as both squads seek to cement themselves in the upper echelon of the Western Conference. But first, the Pelicans go for their third-straight win against the Bulls, starting at 8 p.m. ET.