Source: Kings open season on the road in Utah, play 10 games on national tv

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The faucet is leaking.

In past seasons, we’ve seen the NBA’s schedule drop and a mad rush to break down the finer nuances of the 82-game marathon. That hasn’t been the case this summer.

It started on Tuesday when the league dropped the In-Season Tournament breakdown that includes four games in group play leading up to the actual tourney in Las Vegas from December 4-9.

The Kings are a headliner during the group stage, playing the Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors during a stretch of games between Nov. 10-28. The road game against the Spurs on Nov. 17 is televised on ESPN and the home game against the Warriors on Nov. 28 will play on TNT.

All four of these games and any subsequent Knockout Round games are part of the standard 82 game schedule. That means that these four Group Stage games have increased meaning in the overall scope of the league.

Outside of the four games from the In-Season tournament, we have a few other games that are now known.

According to a league source, the Kings will open the season on the road with a game against the Utah Jazz on Oct. 25. After the game at the Delta Center, the team returns to Golden 1 on Oct. 27 where they will open their home schedule against the Warriors.

The Kings host the Los Angeles Lakers two days later on Oct. 29 and they have a second game against the Warriors scheduled for Nov. 1 at Chase Center. In a similar fashion to last season, the Kings and Warriors will play each other three times before December.

You can circle your calendar for Jan. 18 when Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield and the Indiana Pacers roll through Sacramento. The Spurs and rookie Victor Wembanyama make their first trip to Golden 1 Center on Feb. 22.

A league source has confirmed that the Kings play a total of ten national TV games between TNT (5), ESPN (4) and NBATV (1). The remaining 72 games will appear on NBC Sports California.

The remainder of the schedule is due to drop on Thursday and we’ll have more to examine then. Whether it’s the In-Season Tournament or the national TV schedule, the Kings are starting to get noticed by the league.