The Sacramento Kings and San Antonio Spurs will cross paths four times this season, and the shape of that matchup could look very different by the end of the year.
That’s part of what makes the schedule worth watching. Sacramento’s slate is demanding, but it doesn’t carry the same brutal feel as last season’s. When the 2025-2026 schedule came out a couple of weeks ago, it was clear the Kings had a tough road ahead, though not one quite as punishing as the one that seemed built to wear down every ounce of hope from the team and its fans.
The Kings also drew four meetings with the Clippers, including the opening and closing road games of 2026-2027, which should serve as a clean measuring stick for where Sacramento stands. Those games will help show how the rebuild is going and how the team’s rookies and sophomores are developing.
San Antonio presents a similar kind of checkpoint. The Spurs and Kings meet four times, with three of those games coming before Christmas.
San Antonio is Sacramento’s fourth opponent of 2026-2027, and also its fourth-to-last. There’s even a chance the teams add a fifth meeting through the Emirates Cup.
The question is whether the Kings can make the Spurs sweat later in the season.
Right now, that’s a tough sell. The Spurs are the reigning Western Conference champs and reached the 2026 Finals against the Knicks.
They lost in five games, including the greatest Finals comeback game in history, but they still got there. At this point, San Antonio is the more polished team: better coached, loaded with some of the league’s top young stars, and further along in its rebuild.
Sacramento is still climbing, but it should be a different group by the time the teams meet again. After the Kings and Spurs play for the third time on November 23, 2026, they won’t see each other again until April 6, 2027. That stretch gives Sacramento time to develop, settle in, and maybe become a more legitimate test for a Spurs team that is already ahead on the rebuild timeline.
The Kings probably won’t beat San Antonio. But if they can make the final meetings of 2026-2027 competitive, that would count as real progress for Sacramento.
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Kings Are Weighing A Risky Ben Simmons Gamble
Scott Perry is in Florida taking a close look at Ben Simmons as the Kings continue to explore veteran help at point guard. For Sacramento, the interest makes sense on paper: Simmons still brings size, ballhandling and playmaking to a roster that could use another organizer in the backcourt, and the team is clearly doing its homework before making any move.
The concern, of course, is the same one that has followed Simmons for years. His injuries have cost him significant time, and Sacramento is weighing whether the upside is worth the uncertainty. If the Kings do decide to move forward, a short-term deal would be the logical way to manage the risk while leaving themselves room to reassess what Simmons can still provide. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Fans May Need More Patience Than They Want With Darius Acuff Jr
Darius Acuff Jr. has quickly become one of the more closely watched pieces in the Kings rebuilding picture, and it is easy to see why. The rookie point guard arrived with a reputation for offensive upside after showing real scoring touch in college, the kind of skill set that can make a young guard stand out right away in Sacramentos long-term plans.
The early NBA adjustment, though, has made the case for patience. Acuff has already run into the usual growing pains that come with life at the next level, especially on defense and in finding more reliable scoring from night to night, and that is where the Kings and their fans may have to give him time to settle in before the picture gets clearer. [Read more 🡒]
Kings Reset Will Feel Different When Two Former Players Return
The Kings summer reset was never going to be subtle, but the moves that cleared DeMar DeRozan and Devin Carter from the roster made the direction even clearer. Sacramento waived DeRozan and sent Carter to Atlanta in a cost-cutting push aimed at creating financial flexibility, a sign the front office is trying to rebuild with a sharper eye on salary commitments after consecutive losing seasons.
What will make those decisions linger is the familiar sight of both players back on the schedule. DeRozan landed with the Nuggets on a one-year deal, and the Kings will eventually have to see the veteran forward in another uniform while Carter, too, returns as part of the Hawks matchup. For a team trying to move forward, those games will serve as a reminder of how abruptly the roster shifted. [Read more 🡒]