Early Season Double Dip Against Utah
The Kings will receive an early-season evaluation with two games against a Utah Jazz team that is projected to finish in the top-5 of the Western Conference.
The first contest will be played in Salt Lake City on October 26th and will serve as a test for the Kings. Both teams will be on the second night of a back-to-back, with the Kings hosting the Portland Trailblazers the night prior while the Jazz have a date with the new-look Lakers in Los Angeles.
Utah is always a difficult place to play for opposing teams, and even more so when the Jazz have hype and expectations like they do this season. After finishing as the 5-seed in the wild Western Conference, the Jazz spent wisely this offseason, bringing in underrated point guard Mike Conley and Croatian sharpshooter Bojan Bogdanovic to help bolster an already solid rotation.
The Kings will be playing against two of the best backcourts in the West on back-to-back nights and will need their own to step up. Buddy Hield will have to counter Utah’s 3-point prowess with some long balls of his own, and look for De’Aaron Fox to use his speed against an aging Conley. An early-season upset would be highly beneficial for the Kings and would give them confidence going into their second matchup with the Jazz.
Not a week after the first meeting, the Jazz will come to Sacramento on November 1st.