Today, the NBA announced what their schedule would be for the week of the fifth-ever Play-In Tournament in league history.
The Play-in Tournament schedule. Kings currently clinging to the 10th seed. pic.twitter.com/tMRKhI2Ms2
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) April 2, 2025
Given that the Sacramento Kings are currently at the tenth seed, this means that they would have to play in the second game on Wednesday, April 16. And then, if they won that game, they would be a part of the second game on Friday, April 18. From there, if the Kings managed to win both games, Game 1 of their first round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder would take place sometime on Sunday, April 20.
With all this talk about this year's play-in, we figured it would be a good time to debrief everyone on the Kings' history with this tournament.
Sacramento Kings' Play-In Tournament History
The Kings have only made the NBA Play-In Tournament once in the first four seasons since the event's inception. The one time they made it was last year when the team finished with the ninth seed in the Western Conference.
As the ninth seed, they hosted the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the play-in. On the back of a signature performance from Keegan Murray, the Kings beat the Warriors 118-94 – effectively ending the Klay Thompson era in Golden State.
After that game, the Kings advanced to the second (and final) stage of the play-in, where they were tasked with facing the Zion Williamson-less New Orleans Pelicans. Despite being without their best player, the Pelicans rode a well-balanced team effort (six players scored in double digits) to victory over the Kings. So, the Kings (spoiler alert) did not get the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoff bracket.
The Kings are one of 14 teams to ever win a play-in game (since the tournament was converted to its current format in 2020-21). The most play-in wins by an NBA team is three. Three teams have hit that mark: the Los Angeles Lakers, the Atlanta Hawks, and the Pelicans. The Kings have a chance to tie this mark if they win both of their play-in games this year.