Breaking down the Sacramento Kings’ 2018-19 schedule, games to watch for, and more
On August 10th, the NBA released its regular-season schedule for all 30 teams. With that though, sometimes things get lost in the fold or overlooked, so here is everything one needs to know about the Sacramento Kings’ schedule and what games to circle on one’s calendar.
Sacramento Gets Little Love on National Scale
One. That is the number of games the Kings are scheduled to play on national TV this season. That game will be on November 29th when the Kings battle the Los Angles Clippers in Sacramento on TNT. Last season Sacramento played four nationally-televised games, though one of those came in DeMarcus Cousins’ return to Sacramento so a drop is not totally surprising
Still, Sacramento will be one of six NBA teams to play just one nationally-televised game this season, which Kings fans surely will not be happy about.
They will, however, play four games on NBA TV this season. Those games will be on October 26th (Home vs. Washington Wizards), November 19th (Home vs. Oklahoma City Thunder), December 19th (Home vs. Oklahoma City Thunder), and February 4th (Home vs. San Antonio Spurs).
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Schedule Makers Show Sacramento No Love
Sacramento will open the season at home against the Utah Jazz on October 17th. After that game, seven of their next nine contests will come on the road.
After that, the schedule mostly balances out, though Sacramento will have a six-game road trip from January 17th-27th which will be their longest road trip of the season. March will be a tough month for them too as they play nine games on the road then, their most in any given month.
January also has the Kings slated to play eight home games, the most of any month for this season. Their longest homestand is six games from January 30th-February 10th.
Oh, and the coup de grâce for the Kings is they will have the NBA’s hardest schedule, according to Yaya Dubin on Twitter.
Got a request to post this sorted by SoS. Here it is in ranked form. Nine of the 10 toughest schedules are in the West, with Atlanta (??) being the only exception. pic.twitter.com/iMJ6k7JGoh
— Yaya Dubin (@JADubin5) August 10, 2018
Games To Look Out For
Opening night at the Golden 1 Center against the Jazz is certainly a matchup to watch. This year’s first and second overall picks in DeAndre Ayton and Marvin Bagley III will first meet December 4th in Phoenix. And another rookie in Luka Doncic will go up against Sacramento on December 16th in Dallas.
LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will travel to Sacramento on November 10th in what will be James’ first game in Sacramento with the purple and gold on his chest. The Kings take on the defending champion Golden State Warriors in Oakland on November 24th. And their final regular-season game will come on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers on April 10th.
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Final Thoughts
The Kings did not get the best scheduling draw by any stretch, but after the first month of the season, their home/away balance evens out pretty well. Unfortunately, they will have eight back-to-back games this year.
One thing they do have going for them, though, is that their young-core players will have a year of chemistry heading into this season. Something they did not have the luxury of last year.
That alone should be good enough for an internal improvement of several wins. A final record above 30 wins is certainly a strong possibility, and health permitting, a season of 35 wins is also possible. Bleacher Report might have gotten carried away predicting a 36-46 season, but anything is possible. With that said, Sacramento will likely find themselves around 32-33 wins this year.
Record Prediction: 33-49