These two teams have retooled for the 2024/25 season: What can we expect in their first match-up?
Who: Phoenix Suns (8-1) vs. Sacramento Kings (5-4)
When: 6:00pm Arizona Time
Where: Footprint Center — Phoenix, Arizona
Watch: Arizona’s Family 3TV, Arizona’s Family Sports
Listen: KMVP 98.7
Across the season’s first nine games, your Phoenix Suns have already played the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, and Dallas Mavericks twice. This upcoming tenth game of the season will be the first of five match-ups against the Sacramento Kings, with a second game to follow in two days’ time.
Getting these early games in (and wins!) against Western Conference rivals has led to excellent outcomes; namely, the Suns have marched to the top of the early-season standings.
What can we expect in this Suns vs. Kings match-up, as both teams have retooled for the 2024/25 campaign with a clear focus on a winning season?
The Suns come into this match riding high with yet another well-executed, crunch-time performance against their conference rivals, the Mavericks, although without the services of early MVP candidate Kevin Durant. The Suns are riding a 7-game winning streak and going a stellar 8—1 on the season, while the Kings look to gain traction on their early-season record of 5—4.
As Suns fans, we know how the revamped Phoenix roster looks. Solid bench contributions—check. They’re raining threes—check. Virtuosos of Clutch Time—check.
However, what should we know about the Kings?
In recent times, the Sacramento Kings were the feel-good story of the NBA. There was the return to playoff basketball. The whole ‘Light the Beam’ thing. And they’ve got some high-calibre guys—great ambassadors of the game—led by Domantas Sabonis, De’Aaron Fox, and Malik Monk.
But, they’ve retooled, similarly to the Suns, adding a mid-range stud of their own. Enter DeMar DeRozan. While some people around the Kings’ fanbase questioned the fit, it looks like Derozan has been the injection of veteran stability, adding to the flowing offense that the Kings were looking for.
Note how Elijah Hamilton of the FanSided team for Sacramento worded it four games into the Kings’ season.
The six-time All-Star has scored 20 points or more in each of the Kings’ first four games joining an elite group of Sacramento greats in Chris Webber and Oscar Robertson, who have had longer 20-point streaks to start their careers with the franchise.
UPDATE | DeMar Continues to Score for Sacramento
Harrison Barnes games scoring 20+ points:
2023-24 — 13 games
DeMar DeRozan games scoring 20+ points:
2024-25 — 8 games
The Kings have played 8 games so far this season…
“Lateral Move” pic.twitter.com/tjgUxLyv9g
— MonkMuse (@MonkMuse_) November 7, 2024
All this is to say that DeMar DeRozan figures to be a massive piece of the puzzle for Sacramento, having acclimated quicker than many expected. And adding an extra gear to what the Kings have tried to do.
Probable Starters
Injury Report
Suns
- Ryan Dunn — PROBABLE (Left Ankle Sprain)
- Jusuf Nurkic — QUESTIONABLE (Left Ankle Soreness)
- Kevin Durant — OUT (Left Calf Strain)
- Collin Gillespie — OUT (Left Ankle Sprain)
Kings
- Devin Carter — OUT (Left Shoulder)
- Orlando Robinson — OUT (Left MCL Sprain)
Uniform Matchup
What to Watch For
The Suns’ Focus? Without Durant in the mix, it’ll be about going toe-to-toe with a squad built in a similar vein to the Suns—potent offence coming from any position on the court, heads-up play with savvy veterans, primary ball-handlers, and multiple All-Star-quality players.
Can the Suns cool off DeMar DeRozan’s blistering offensive output to start his career as a King?
Having only registered 13 points against the feisty Clippers, I’d LOVE to see DeMar held under 20 points in consecutive matches. If the Suns could accomplish that, this would be a feather in their cap and a notch on the belt. Sure, stopping DeMar from scoring 20+ is more of a side mission at this point—the win is the thing—but for a team to focus on setting and accomplishing smaller goals develops motivations for the bigger picture stuff.
Perhaps this is where we see the bench depth on defense come to the fore, with more defensive minutes from Josh Okogie?
Fun Fact
The Suns have played the Kings a grand total of 250 times [regular season], holding the edge in wins: 146—104. Currently, the Suns hold a 3-game winning streak against the Kings, dating back to last season [January 16th, 2024].
Keys to a Suns Win
The Kings are currently 5th on the team leaderboard for points at 118.8 per game and are 4th in FG% (48.4%), winning their games by a health margin of 5.6 (6th in +/-). Where the Suns have shined so far this season have been in crunch time, 3pt %, passing (top 9 in assists per game).
The Suns have a slight upper hand in drawing fouls, rebounding, and surprisingly blocking shots this season. Realistically, the key to a Suns win will come down to wearing the Kings out, controlling the rebounding at both ends and forcing the Kings into isolation offense—getting them out of their groove. Watching Nurkic get everything he wanted against the Mavericks was beautiful—more of the same, please, from the Bosnian Beast!
Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images
Prediction
Coming off a career start to the season, don’t expect your Phoenix Suns to take their collective feet off the gas pedal anytime soon. With NBA Cup group play just around the corner, the Suns are positioning themselves as one of the top 3 teams in the LEAGUE.
Without KD, expect this game to be a field study in offensive firepower!
I predict this game to be wild:
Suns 127, Kings 116
When the game is over, join the Suns JAM Session podcast as we discuss it live on YouTube.
What are you looking for in this matchup as the Suns assert themselves, vying for an 8-game winning streak, as the TRUE kings of the Western Conference?