“I personally think preseason games are valuable, especially now that we went from four to eight,” Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie said after Monday’s practice.
Beginning his first season as the Kings’ full-time head coach, Christie and new general manager Scott Perry have been clear in their goal of creating an identity this season.
What does it mean to be a member of the Sacramento Kings? Their core on-court principles include picking up full-cout defensively and playing with pace.
They even claimed they want to be “the best conditioned team in the league.”
Christie, who earned four All-Defense honors throughout his playing career, of course, also values his group having a defensive orientation.
Wednesday’s preseason debut against the visiting Toronto Raptors is their first chance to see them in action. After beating up on each other for the past week in training camp, everyone is itching to face a real opponent, preseason or not.
“You don’t have a lot of time to figure things out,” Christie said Monday. “So there’s a higher priority on putting things in, on executing, on looking at live game reps versus practice. That’s very, very important. So we’ll be, you know, scrutinizing that tape like we do in practice, but now it’s versus an opponent.”
When asked what he’s most keen to witness, the head coach said, “I mean, it’s just basketball. For me, it’s always defense.”
“But up and beyond that, we want to flow and work and all the things that we worked on, we want to do well, but at the same time, like we’re going to put in some things, probably up until shoot around, so it’ll be the first time they saw it, and we want them to execute it. And we’re going to judge that just as harshly as anything else.”
Having stated his preference for a 10-man rotation, considering their expected pace of play, these four matchups will provide an opportunity to see various combinations as well.
Christie is constantly evaluating everything. Even if the game results will reset before the regular season, their process, confidence, and cohesion will be key as they head into a demanding early regular season schedule.
More Sacramento Kings coverage on Sactown Sports
The Sacramento Kings have a much different look entering this season than they did last fall–but is this team a worse product than what we witnessed during 2024-25?
According to several outlets, the answer is yes.
Preseason predictions are rolling in, and many around the league view the Beam Team as a lottery candidate for the upcoming 2025-26 season, with some penciling the Kings in near the bottom of the Western Conference standings.
As we inch closer to the October 22nd season-opener in Phoenix, let’s take a look at some preseason win-loss predictions for Sacramento.
Read More:
Upcoming Sacramento Kings schedule for the 2025-26 season
Preseason
Wednesday, October 8th vs. Toronto Raptors – 7 PM PT
Friday, October 10th @ Portland Trail Blazers – 7 PM PT
Wednesday, October 15th vs. Los Angeles Clippers – 7 PM PT
Friday, October 17th @ Los Angeles Lakers – 7 PM PT
Regular Season
Wednesday, October 22nd – @ Phoenix Suns – 7 PM PT
Friday, October 24th – vs. Utah Jazz – 7 PM PT
Sunday, October 26th – vs. Los Angeles Lakers – 6 PM PT
Tuesday, October 28th – @ Oklahoma City Thunder – 5 PM PT
Wednesday, October 29th – @ Chicago Bulls – 5 PM PT
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