The Sacramento Kings’ schedule has its quirks, and one of the strangest is front and center early in the season: a stretch against the New Orleans Pelicans that has these teams seeing a lot of each other in a short window. The two clubs meet four times before Christmas, with three of those games landing between November 30 and December 18. For Sacramento, that means a long holiday-season run against a team it really needs to handle.
Last season, the Kings were not the league’s worst team, despite how rough things got at times. Sacramento finished fifth from the bottom in the NBA, which still stands as one of the notable marks from 2025-2026. The Jazz, Nets, Pacers, and Wizards all posted worse records, with Washington bringing up the rear.
New Orleans, meanwhile, managed to stay out of the bottom five, even if the Pelicans still landed in the bottom ten. They finished four wins ahead of Sacramento, going 26-56 compared with the Kings’ 22-60. That gap is real, but it is not exactly a canyon.
The problem for Sacramento is that two of those four extra Pelicans wins came directly against the Kings. New Orleans took the season series 2-1, and the first meeting was a 26-point rout for the Pelicans.
ESPN’s projection for this season is grim on both sides. The outlet has New Orleans finishing with 25 wins and Sacramento with 19, which would put the Pelicans 14th and the Kings 15th in the Western Conference.
That’s a bleak forecast, especially for a Kings team that still has enough talent to make this upcoming stretch against New Orleans matter. Sacramento has work to do to become relevant again, but this is also a matchup it should be able to win more often than not. A two-two split in the season series would make plenty of sense.
In Other News...
Kings Rebuild Pressure Is Already Falling On Darius Acuff Jr
Darius Acuff Jr. arrives in Sacramento with more than the usual first-round expectations. Taken seventh overall, the guard is already being talked about as the kind of player who can anchor the Kings next phase, with analysts and commentators projecting him to outpace DeAaron Foxs rookie production and eventually grow into the franchises leading point guard.
That is a lot to ask of any rookie, especially on a team not expected to reach the playoffs this season. But Acuffs rsum gives the Kings a reason to dream: he led the SEC in scoring and assists as a freshman at Arkansas, and his first year in Sacramento is likely to be read less as a learning curve and more as a measure of whether the rebuild is actually taking hold. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Face A Backup Guard Debate With Bigger Long Term Stakes
Sacramentos search for another ball handler has quickly become more than a simple depth conversation, because the Kings are weighing whether the spot should go to a veteran voice or a younger developmental piece. Names such as Victor Oladipo, Elfrid Payton, Cam Payne and Ben Simmons have all surfaced as possible fits to help mentor Darius Acuff Jr., giving the front office a chance to add both insurance and experience to a backcourt that could use it.
Tristen Newton is part of the other side of that debate, a younger option who was recently waived by the Houston Rockets and arrives with strong G-League and college credentials. His profile makes the choice interesting for Sacramento, since the Kings are not just shopping for a stopgap, but trying to decide whether immediate steadiness or longer-term upside better fits the rosters needs. [Read more 🡒]
Keegan Murray Faces Real Pressure As Kings Suddenly Have Options
Keegan Murray arrived in Sacramento with the kind of draft status that usually buys a little patience, and his rookie season suggested the Kings had found a long-term piece. Since then, though, the progress has been harder to spot, with his follow-up seasons showing little improvement and some dips in important areas, even as the organization made the commitment of a five-year contract extension.
Now the pressure is different because the Kings are no longer short on alternatives at power forward. That changes the conversation around Murray quickly, because a player once viewed as a foundational fit can become a trade candidate if the development curve does not turn soon enough. For a team trying to keep its roster moving forward, the next step from Murray may matter more than ever. [Read more 🡒]