On July 31, the Sacramento Kings will start their quest for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. However, before the Kings play games that count towards their record, they’ll play three warmup games against teams they’re not going to see during their seeding games.
Here are the three teams they’ll see:
July 22 vs. Miami Heat: The Kings have played the Heat twice this season, and their series is tied 1-1. While this won’t technically swing the series in anyone’s favor, whichever team wins will have bragging rights until next season. Additionally, it will give the Kings their first look at the Heat with Jimmy Butler. In the two games the Kings played the Heat this season, Butler was sidelined. Their first game went to overtime, where the Kings lost 118-113, and their second game was won by the Kings in regulation, 105-97.
July 25 vs. Milwaukee Bucks: The Kings have lost to the Bucks twice this season, and neither game was particularly close. In their first game, the Kings lost 127-106, which, in terms of point differential, is tied for the second-worst loss of the season. In their second meeting, the Kings lost to the Bucks by 12 with Giannis Antetokounmpo and George Hill sidelined. To be fair, though, the Kings were pretty banged up, too, and that was true in both games. We’ll see how they matchup at full-strength.
July 27 vs. LA Clippers: There are only two teams in the NBA that have beaten the Clippers twice this season: the Milwaukee Bucks and the Sacramento Kings. The only time the Clippers beat the Kings this season was then they had both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on their active roster. With a healthy and revamped roster, the Kings should put up a good fight in Round 4.
Similar to the playoffs, the Kings drew the toughest teams in their scrimmage schedule because of their regular season record, except there’s more to gain than there is to lose from these games. For example, if the Kings go 2-1 in their scrimmages, they’ll have to some nice momentum to build off of going into their seeding games. If they finish with a losing record, they’ll have plenty of film against elite teams to learn from.
All in all, the Kings have nothing to lose except meaningless games against teams that are much better than most of the ones they’ll see during their seeding schedule.
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