by Charlie O. Mallonee

The Sacramento Kings opened the 2014 preseason on Sunday night in Vancouver versus the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors won the game 99-94.

As with all sports in the preseason, the win-loss record does not mean much. The preseason is all about evaluating your talent and deciding who will be with the big club, who will go to the D-League and who will be unemployed when the 2014-15 season starts on October 29th.

Ramon Sessions led the Kings in scoring with 14 points in 28 minutes of playing time. DeMarcus Cousins and Darren Collison each poured in 13 points apiece. Rookie and Canadian native Nik Stauskas scored 12 points in his NBA debut.

The Kings starting line up included Rudy Gay and Jason Thompson as the forwards, DeMarcus Cousins at center and Ben McLemore and Darren Collison at the guard positions. That may well be a preview of the Kings’ starting five for October 29th.

Carl Landry played 20 minutes and scored seven points while grabbing five rebounds. Recent addition Omri Casspi played just six minutes and did not score.

The Kings shot .469 (30-64) from the field, .385 (5-13) from 3-point range and .725 (29-40) from the free throw line. Sacramento turned the ball over 29 times versus just 16 turnovers for Toronto.

The Kings next preseason game will be on October 11th at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China against the Brooklyn Nets. The Kings and Nets will also play on October 15th in Beijing.