Sacramento Kings: Eight-game schedule for NBA restart revealed
By Justin Fried
The Sacramento Kings’ eight-game schedule for the NBA’s restart has been revealed.
The Sacramento Kings officially have their eight-game schedule set for the NBA’s return next month. They know now the path that it will take to ultimately break their NBA-worst 16-year playoff drought.
The league is set to resume play on Thursday, July 30th when the Utah Jazz take on the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Kings, however, won’t play their first game until the following day when they battle one of the teams they’re competing for a playoff spot with, the San Antonio Spurs.
The NBA officially released the schedules for all 22 teams on Friday including the Kings who will look to make one final playoff push.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) June 26, 2020
Below is a list of all eight games on the Kings’ schedule.
- San Antonio Spurs on Friday, July 31 at 5 p.m. PT
- Orlando Magic on Sunday, August 2 at 3 p.m. PT
- Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, August 4 at 11:30 a.m. PT
- New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, August 6 at 10:30 a.m. PT
- Brooklyn Nets on Friday, August 7 at 2 p.m. PT
- Houston Rockets on Sunday, August 9 at 5 p.m. PT
- New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday, August 11 at 6 p.m. PT
- Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, August 13 — Time TBD
What are the Sacramento Kings’ odds of making the playoffs?
At the moment, the Kings sit 3.5 games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the eighth seed in the Western Conference. That’s tied with both the Pelicans and Portland Trail Blazers and a half-game ahead of the San Antonio Spurs who sit four games behind.
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However, the Trail Blazers played two more games than the Kings in the regular season giving them a higher winning percentage. And since that’s what the NBA will be basing the final standings on, Portland technically has an advantage over both the Kings and Pelicans.
Unfortunately, the Kings will not be able to make up any ground against the Grizzlies in direct fashion as they don’t play them in their final eight-game stretch. However, they do face both the Spurs and Pelicans in what should be crucial matchups.
The two games against New Orleans, in particular, could make or break their season.
Those matchups as well as games against the Brooklyn Nets and Orlando Magic will be must-wins if Sacramento wants to make some noise in the postseason.
Per the rules of the NBA’s restart, all the Kings have to do is finish within four games of the eighth seed and they will have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs.
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It’s certainly possible, but it remains to be seen if the Kings will prove their doubters wrong and put an end to one of the longest playoff droughts in American sports.