NBA releases 2024-25 schedule, Kings face two monster road trips

The NBA dropped the schedule for all 82 games at noon on Thursday and now the dissection begins. There is usually a lot of overreaction and hand wringing when it comes to the Sacramento Kings’ schedule, but there is also a lot of excitement as we reach another mile marker of the offseason.

After five preseason games beginning on October 9, the Kings open the regular season at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves on October 24. The team quickly travels to Los Angeles to face the Lakers on October 26 for their first NBA TV game of the season and then back to Sacramento for a matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 28.

The Kings open the season with five out of seven on the road, including a four game road trip that starts in Utah on Oct. 29 and includes stops in Atlanta, Toronto and Miami. It’s a whirlwind opening two weeks that includes thousands of miles of travel and two sets of back-to-backs.

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Despite a solid 46-36 record last season, the Kings are featured on national television just 12 times this season, down from the 22 they played last season. Of those 12, three are on TNT (Rockets on 1/16, Warriors 3/13 and Thunder on 3/25), three are on ESPN (Warriors on 1/22, Clippers on 3/9 and Nuggets on 4/9) and the remaining six are on NBA TV.

It should be noted that the team doesn’t have an ESPN or TNT game until game 41 of the regular season. The Kings players will at least get some extra exposure from a larger audience, but not a lot before the All-Star break.

The Kings face two monstrous road trips this season. The first is a six game East Coast swing with stops in Denver, New York, Brooklyn, Philly, OKC and Minnesota from Jan 23-Feb. 3.

Sacramento’s second major trip is six games as well and opens in Orlando on March 29. The trip includes stops in Indiana, Washington, Charlotte, Cleveland and finishes in Detroit on April 7. This might be a make-or-break trip for the Kings leading up to the final three games of the season, which are all at home.

Mike Brown’s group has an extended homestand from March 17-27 when the Grizzlies, Cavs, Bulls, Bucks, Celtics, Thunder and Trail Blazers stop by Golden 1 Center. The team also has a stretch of six out of seven games at home in mid-November and another grouping of games from the end of the NBA Cup (12/10-12/17) until Jan. 9 where they play eight games at home and two in-state games on the road.

The team plays a total of 16 sets of back-to-backs, including five home-and-homes, three home-and-roads, six road-and-homes and two road-and-roads.

Month-by-month, the Kings play four games in Oct., 16 in Nov., 11 in Dec. plus two NBA Cup games, 14 in Jan., 11 in Feb. and 17 in Mar. before finishing up with seven in Apr. The March schedule is particularly tough, and includes the longest home stand of the season at seven games and the beginning of the second six game road trip.

BetMGM has the Kings winning 46.5 games, a .5 bump over last season’s win total.

Here are some additional games to look forward to this season:

Oct. 24: Timberwolves at Kings - Kings open their 2024-25 schedule at home against the T-Wolves.

Nov. 6: Raptors at Kings - Former No. 9 overall pick Davion Mitchell drops by Sacramento for the first time as a visiting player.

Nov. 2: Kings at Clippers - Kings get first look at the Intuit Dome.

Dec. 1: Spurs at Kings - Harrison Barnes makes his return to Golden 1 Center after being traded to the Spurs over the summer.

Dec. 22: Indiana at Kings - Tyrese Haliburton swings by Sacramento and Domantas Sabonis faces his former team.

Jan. 12: Kings at Bulls - DeMar DeRozan returns to Chicago to face his former Bulls teammates.

Jan. 22: Warriors at Kings - Buddy Hield returns to Sacramento as a member of the Golden State Warriors.

Mar. 24: Celtics at Kings - The Champs roll through Sacramento.

Apr. 13: Suns at Kings - Final game of the 2024-25 season for Kings.