Sacramento Kings 2009-2010 Season Schedule

The schedule has been released and the Sacramento Kings will open up 2009-2010 campaign on the road in Oklahoma City against Kevin Durant. The first home game will be November 2nd against Zach Randolph and the Memphis Grizzlies.

In terms of seeing stars there will be a Merry Christmas for Kings fans with a home game against LeBron James two days before Christmas Day and a home game against Kobe Bryant the day after. There will be a six-game, eight-day road trip in the middle of January and if the Kings are going to make the playoffs, they’re going to have to earn it with a brutal schedule in April (even if most of the games are at home).

Here’s a list of the games (games against division opponents in bold, home games in purple):

October
October 28th – Kings at Thunder
October 30th – Kings at Hornets
October 31st – Kings at Spurs
November
November 2nd – Grizzlies at Kings
November 4th – Hawks at Kings
November 7th – Kings at Jazz
November 8th – Warriors at Kings on NBATV
November 10th – Thunder at Kings
November 13th – Rockets at Kings
November 17th – Bulls at Kings
November 20th – Kings at Mavericks
November 21st – Kings at Rockets
November 23rd – Kings at Grizzlies
November 25th – Knicks at Kings
November 27th – Nets at Kings
November 29th – Hornets at Kings
December
December 2nd – Pacers at Kings
December 5th – Kings at Suns
December 6th – Heat at Kings
December 8th – Kings at Hornets
December 9th – Kings at Spurs
December 12th – Wolves at Kings
December 15th – Kings at Blazers
December 16th – Wizards at Kings
December 18th – Kings at Wolves
December 19th – Kings at Bucks
December 21st – Kings at Bulls
December 23rd – Cavaliers at Kings
December 26th – Lakers at Kings
December 28th – Nuggets at Kings
December 30th – 76ers at Kings
January
January 1st – Kings at Lakers
January 2nd – Mavericks at Kings
January 5th – Suns at Kings
January 8th – Kings at Warriors
January 9th – Nuggets at Kings
January 12th – Magic at Kings
January 15th – Kings at 76ers
January 16th – Kings at Wizards
January 18th – Kings at Bobcats
January 20th – Kings at Hawks
January 22nd – Kings at Magic
January 23rd – Kings at Heat
January 26th – Warriors at Kings
January 29th – Kings at Jazz
January 30th – Bobcats at Kings
February
February 1st – Kings at Nuggets
February 3rd – Spurs at Kings
February 5th – Suns at Kings
February 7th – Kings at Raptors
February 9th – Kings at Knicks
February 10th – Kings at Pistons
February 16th – Celtics at Kings
February 17th – Kings at Warriors
February 20th – Kings at Clippers
February 21st – Kings at Suns
February 23rd – Pistons at Kings
February 26th – Jazz at Kings
February 28th – Clippers at Kings
March
March 2nd – Kings at Thunder
March 3rd – Kings at Rockets
March 5th – Kings at Mavericks
March 7th – Thunder at Kings
March 9th – Kings at Blazers
March 10th – Raptors at Kings
March 12th – Blazers at Kings
March 14th – Wolves at Kings
March 16th – Lakers at Kings
March 19th – Bucks at Kings
March 21st – Kings at Clippers
March 22nd – Grizzlies at Kings
March 24th – Kings at Nets
March 26th – Kings at Celtics
March 28th – Kings at Cavaliers
March 30th – Kings at Pacers
March 31st – Kings at Wolves
April
April 3rd – Blazers at Kings
April 6th – Spurs at Kings
April 8th – Clippers at Kings
April 10th – Mavericks at Kings
April 12th – Rockets at Kings
April 13th – Kings at Lakers

Notes on the Schedule:
– Kings have 20 sets of back to back games.
– Nine of those back to back sets will have the Kings facing a team who is also on a back to back set (Houston – Nov.21, Milwaukee – Dec. 19, Denver – Jan. 9, Washington – Jan. 16, Miami – Jan. 23, Charlotte – Jan. 30, Detroit – Feb.10, Golden State – Feb. 17, Toronto – Mar.10)
– Kings have two stints with four games in five nights. First is from December 5th to December 9th (at Suns, Heat, at Hornets, at Spurs) and the second is from December 15th to December 19th (at Blazers, Wizards, at Wolves, at Bucks).

Here are notes from the Kings Media Press Release:

KEY FACTS ABOUT THE SACRAMENTO KINGS 2009-10 SCHEDULE:

• By month, the schedule breaks down as follows: October (0 home, 3 away = 3 total), November (9 home, 4 away = 13 total), December (8 home, 7 away = 15 total), January (6 home, 9 away = 15 total), February (6 home, 7 away = 13 total), March (7 home, 10 away = 17 total), April (5 home, 1 away = 6 total).
• By day, the schedule breaks down as follows: Monday (4 home, 4 away = 8 total), Tuesday (9 home, 7 away = 16 total), Wednesday (8 home, 8 away = 16 total), Thursday (1 home, 0 away = 1 total), Friday (6 home, 10 away = 16 total), Saturday (7 home, 8 away = 15 total), Sunday (6 home, 4 away = 10 total).
• The Kings’ longest homestand is five games on two separate occasions at ARCO Arena.
• Sacramento embarks on eight road trips of three or more games in length. The longest is a six-game journey with stops in Philadelphia (Friday, January 15th), Washington (Saturday, January 16th), Charlotte (Monday, January 18th), Atlanta (Wednesday, January 20th), Orlando (Friday, January 22nd) and Miami (Saturday, January 23rd).
• The Kings’ first two opponents on the road have head coaches who were former assistant coaches for Sacramento (Scott Brooks, Oklahoma City and Byron Scott, New Orleans).
• Of the 20 sets of back-to-back games, 10 are of the away-away variety, eight are away-home and two are of the home-away category. There are no home-home back-to-backs slated for the 2009-10 campaign.
• There are four morning/early afternoon contests (prior to 1 p.m. PST) on the Kings’ 2009-10 schedule.
• Sacramento’s 41-game home schedule features 19 weekend contests at ARCO Arena.
• The Kings handed the Memphis Grizzlies a 100-95 defeat in last season’s home opener at ARCO Arena. This season’s home opener marks the second straight year Sacramento has played the Grizzlies and third overall. The Kings recorded a 109-87 win over the Vancouver Grizzlies in a home opener on February 7, 1999 during the lockout season.
• Sacramento’s 2009-10 regular season road opener against Oklahoma City marks the first time the Kings have played the Thunder in such a game. Overall, the Kings have played season road openers against the Seattle Sonics on three different occasions (twice as the Sacramento Kings and once as the Kansas City Kings).
• The Kings have opened the season on the road in each of the past five campaigns, playing three or more games. This marks the sixth straight such season.
• Sacramento will play the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2009-10 season finale, marking the fifth-such outing during the Sacramento era (three times on the road and twice at home).
• The Kings will play on two national holidays when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers on New year’s Day (January 1st) and Charlotte Bobcats (Monday, January 18th) on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, in addition to a Halloween (October 31st) game at San Antonio against the Spurs.