by Charlie O. Mallonee

The NBA regular season schedule was released today and the Sacramento Kings will open the 2016-17 campaign on the road in Phoenix on Wednesday October 28. The game will be a 7:00 PM tip-off  local time.

The Kings first NBA regular season game in the new Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento will be on the next night – Thursday October 29 – when they will host the San Antonio Spurs. The tip-off in Sacramento will be at 7:30 PM.

The game times for most of the weeknight games have been pushed back to 7:30 PM to allow the downtown district to clear out from the business day to make parking easier for fans attending the game. The later starts will also allow fans to enjoy early dinners before the game and still be in their seats for tip-off. Game times at home will vary on the weekends.

The Kings will host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday October 29 at 7:30 PM at the Golden 1 Center in a game that will be televised nationally on NBA TV.

The Golden State Warriors will not visit Sacramento until Sunday January 8, 2017. The Warriors will make a return visit on Saturday February 4.

The Los Angeles Lakers will make their two trips to the Capital City before the New Year. The Lakers will play at the Golden 1 Center on Thursday November 10 and Monday December 12.

The World Champion Cleveland Cavaliers will make their one and only appearance in Sacramento on Friday January 13.

Kings games will be televised nationally five times from the Golden 1 Center during the season. TNT will broadcast the November 10 game versus the Lakers. ESPN will show the nation the Clippers – Kings game on November 18 from Sacramento. NBA TV will show three games nationally from the Kings new arena.

The Kings play four games in October (2 home; 2 away), 15 games in November (7 home; 8 away), 15 games in December (5 home; 10 away), 15 games in January (7 home; 8 away), 11 games in February (2 home; 9 away), 16 games in March (8 home; 8 away) and six games in April (3 home; 3 away).

The Kings longest homestand runs January 4 thru 18 with seven games to played at the Golden 1 Center. The team’s longest road trip has seven games between January 20 and January 31 on the road.

The Kings have 18 sets of back-to-back games for the season. Two sets are back-to-back games at home. Eight of the sets are away-away games. Three are away-home games and five sets are home-away games.

The Kings have never won a game when they have opened an arena in Sacramento. They lost the opener in Arco Arena I on October 25, 1985 to the Clippers 108-104. The Kings lost the first game in Arco Arena II to the Seattle SuperSonics 97-75 on November 8, 1988.