@The Jamal is on a roll (and without snarky comments as well). Coach Christie has a problem and, concurrently, is the problem. It would be interesting to know who he would play if he was completely free to do so. Benching highly paid All-Stars is apparently not an option. But there are other ways to deal with the issue.
Start the All-Stars and quickly sub one or two out. They retain their "starter" status while allowing the team to rebalance on the court. DeRosan would be the most obvious. He is older and, at times, his fatigue shows. His game is mainly focused on creating a shot for himself. If held out intermittently until closing time, he would be fresher and perhaps even more productive for those last few minutes.
Monk subbing out, if he falters early, would effectively make him a 6th man spark when he returns.
LaVine is too new to the roster to effectively evaluate how he interacts and where he fits best. It will become apparent shortly.
Back to the Coach Christie dilemma. His assistant coaches have his ear and are Brown retreads. Results are recently trending to the same results that ended in firing Brown. No effective 3-point defense and poor offensive opportunities and choices have returned. If Christie wants to return as permanent coach, he needs to have his own assistants that mirror his philosophy. The roster has significantly changed and the All-Star break is a perfect time to make some coaching changes. The resulting "rebuild on the fly" could be the turn around to go with the "Christie boost".
The Kings team is loaded with talent, playoff talent. Getting there is the issue. To do that Christie is going to have to turn goulash into lasagna. Not an easy task as Vinnie can attest to.
