The 10-Game stretch that will make or break the Sacramento Kings’ season

Technically speaking, all regular season games are equal. However, we would lose the human element in all of this if we did not consider timing and dynamics when talking about regular season scheduling.

With that in mind, even if it’s not marked as a dot on a map, every team in every NBA season has a series of games that ultimately make or break their career. In honor of that, we’ve decided to highlight the ten-game series that will make or break our Sacramento Kings this season.

But before that, let’s take a quick look at the Kings’ full schedule for the 2024-25 regular season.

Now that we have the schedule in front of us, we can indicate which part of the schedule will be the most critical. For me, those days are from March 9th to March 25th. Here are the ten games that will take place during that period.

Some of you may look at this stretch and wonder: How come the Kings’ toughest ten-game stretch only includes three away games?

This type of reasoning is short-sighted and ignores two important variables: the time of the season and the strength of the opponents.

This series of games comes less than a month before the start of the 2025 NBA playoffs. If the Kings don’t handle this period well, they could plummet in the standings. And with the season almost over by then, they won’t have time to repair the damage done.

Remember how quickly the Kings went from sixth to ninth last year because of injuries (Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter). The Western Conference is a tough place to be, and one small mistake could cost you spots in the standings.

It won’t be easy to get through this period without a hitch either. Aside from the Chicago Bulls, who have no direction to go, all of the teams we listed above should be contenders for a title. playoff spot next season.

Six of those teams – the New York Knicks, the Memphis Grizzlies (who I’m really high), Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder – have a legitimate chance of landing a high spot in their respective conferenceThe last two (the Celtics and Thunder) are the two teams that are expected to finish first in the East and West (respectively).

The fact is, this stretch doesn’t offer the Kings many wins. If the Kings aren’t careful, things could go south for them quickly. But if they survive it, they’ll be in a great position heading into the 2025 playoffs. Ultimately, it’s the fork in the road that (I think) will play the biggest role in the Kings’ 2024-25 regular season story.