When does Sacramento Kings training camp start? Key dates to know

With the 2024 Paris Olympics over and behind us, we now have to wait patiently for the start of the 2024-25 NBA season. And as every long-time fan knows, every new season begins with training camp. But how long will Sacramento Kings fans have to wait until the start of training camp?

When Does Training Camp Start?

The Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets will be the first two teams to open their training camps with media day scheduled for September 24, with the first practice taking place on September 25. Their training camps begin a week early because they will be participating in the NBA Abu Dhabi Games this season.

However, the rest of the league (including our Kings) will begin training camp with Media Day on September 30, with the opening practices of training camp taking place on October 1 (a little over a month from now). From there, the Kings will have eight days to prepare before their first preseason game against the Golden State Warriors on October 9. Their final preseason game will be on October 17, when they travel to Los Angeles to face off against the Clippers. In total, the Kings will play five preseason games.

A week after that, the Kings will tip off the 2024-25 regular season by hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. As we've discussed before, this will be a great test to start the season, as the Timberwolves went to the Western Conference Finals last year, and beating them would go a long way toward proving we belong in an ultra-competitive conference.

Why Is Training Camp Important?

Many people don't know this, but teams don't practice the way they used to. This isn't one of those "the league is too soft nowadays" takes. It's the actual truth. Teams don't go all out in practices anymore like they would back in the day. The reason for this is that the season is way too rigorous to be operating at full throttle all the time. You need to pick your spots if you want to make it all the way to the finish line.

With that said, training camp is the only time teams can implement new concepts. And given that it is so short, coaching staffs around the league need to be super strategic about how they use their time. Do you want to spend a lot of time working on the basics? Or do you want to skip all that and focus on adding new wrinkles?

The answer to those questions depends on the team. For the Kings, we have a lot of continuity on our roster. So, for the most part, we can forget about the basics and work on adding new counters to our offense and defense. However, we will have to also spend some time getting our marquee offseason acquisition, DeMar DeRozan, up to speed.