But there's also the off-the-court issues with this group. To wit …

Thompson, Patterson and Hayes are all Geoff Petrie era Kings. Landry (who was once a Geoff Petrie era King) is a Vivek-Pete-Malone era King. He's going to get minutes, no question. Lots of them. My estimate would be at least 25 per game.

Patterson, of course, is a free agent at season's end. If the new Kings regime likes him, playing him will only boost his contract level in July. If the new Kings regime doesn't think he's a part of the future, it doesn't matter whether he plays or not: as a pending free agent, he's not going to bring a ton back via trade at the deadline anyway. He's really not under contract long enough to become more of an asset than he already is.

Of course, it will be Malone, not D'Alessandro, making the calls on minutes. But based on what we've seen and heard, this crew is pretty well integrated, and I wouldn't doubt these conversations are being had.

Just a prediction, of course. We'll begin getting some clarity by Monday (the preseason opener!) at the latest.

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