Kings vs. Suns highlights schedule inequities of NBA’s in-season tournament

An unexpected flight to Phoenix for Friday’s game against the Suns will come as no consolation for the Kings after they fell short of reaching the NBA in-season tournament’s Final Four in Las Vegas.

When the NBA released its schedule in August, each team was given 80 games with two more games to be determined based on the results of the inaugural in-season tournament. The Kings played one of those two games when they suffered a a 127-117 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in the quarterfinals on Monday at Golden 1 Center. They will play the other Friday at Footprint Center in Phoenix when they visit the Suns, who lost to the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday in another quarterfinal.

As a result, the Kings will play the Suns and Pelicans five times this season instead of four. This new and unprecedented quirk in the regular-season schedule underscores one of the slight inequities associated with the in-season tournament.

One game can and likely will cost some team homecourt advantage, an automatic playoff berth or a spot in the play-in games. If that team is the Kings, they might look back on their in-season tournament experience with some regret.

The Suns are expected to be an NBA championship contender with a star-studded roster featuring Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. The Kings will play the Suns twice at home and three times on the road, all over the next four months with Beal expected to return as soon as next week after missing a month with a back injury.

The Pelicans, who are already 3-0 against the Kings this season, present matchup problems for many teams when CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson and Jonas Valanciunas are healthy. The Kings have seen enough of the Pelicans, but they still have to play two more games against them Jan. 7 and April 11 in Sacramento.

If it wasn’t for the Pelicans, the Kings would have the second-best record in the Western Conference behind the Minnesota Timberwolves, who suffered a 124-111 home loss to Sacramento during the group stage of the tournament. The Kings went 4-0 to win West Group C. The Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors finished 3-1 in the group.

Micke Grove GC

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