Warriors at Kings Game 7 Preview: West Changing of the Guard?

It is territory the San Antonio Spurs know well: Up from the bottom to the top. And that’s part of the story today for a team that almost no one believed would make it as far as it did.

Yes, Sacramento Kings have more than surpassed expectations.

A first-year coach in Mike Brown, a pair of relatively new teammates in Domantis Sabonis and De'Aaron Fox and even a few key first- and second-year players all made for an unlikely Western Conference 3-seed.

But the Kings made it happen. Now, they are set to face the reigning NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors, at home for Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs.

"Part of the reason we busted our behind all season was to try and get as good of a record as we could during the regular season," Brown said. "That hopefully will help benefit [us] in situations like this. We're excited [to be] going back home [and] playing in front of our fans."

"The town and the organization definitely deserve this," he added. "Now we just have to go out there and try to get it done.”

The Warriors boast a decorated coach in Steve Kerr and a slew of veteran players who have faced high-pressure situations in the past, but neither have pushed them past the Kings in the best-of-seven series.

A win for the Warriors - now a regal franchise with a title pedigree that the Spurs also know plenty about - would set them up for a highly anticipated second-round matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers and a win for the Kings would do the same, but the latter might mean more than that.

It could be a sign of a changing of the guard in the West.

Sacramento's roster still remains young, with its average age being 25. The two All-stars leading the charge are Fox and Sabonis, though they have only spent two seasons together. And after multiple subpar finishes, the Kings also added both forward Keegan Murray and guard Davion Mitchell to their roster via the draft lottery.

Golden State's roster age sits slightly higher, at 27, but the core players that have been responsible for much of the team's success — Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green — are all 33 or older and approaching the age of retirement consideration.

That's not to say that the three have begun to decline in performance. Curry averaged 29.4 points and 6.3 assists on 42.7 percent 3-point shooting, which which has become the signature of his game, during the regular season, but even with his impressive play in year 14 of his career, the Warriors only managed to secure the 6-seed in the West.

Injuries played a key part of that for both teams, but in different ways. Curry was sidelined for 11 games in December-January due to a left-shoulder subluxation and only played 56 games in the regular season, giving the Warriors a big offensive gap to fill. On the other side, no player in the Kings' starting five missed more than nine games all season, with center Harrison Barnes playing every one.

The Kings' youth proved to mean a lot this season. The Memphis Grizzlies backed up that youthful narrative, earning themselves the West's 2-seed before being bounced by LeBron James and Los Angeles Lakers, who improved after adding a plethora of young talent during the trade deadline. Even for teams in the West who did not meet the cut for the playoffs, like the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder, young players were pivotal and will continue to be in the coming years.

But the Kings utilized their youth in a different way as well, feeding off of their fans who finally had a reason to be excited.

Sacramento's playoff berth marked the first since 2006, but a win against Golden State would mark the first playoff series victory since the 2003-2004 season, nearly 20 years ago. So, should the Kings light the beam following today's matchup, the West could very well be in for some change, with young players not going anywhere.

WHAT: Sacramento Kings vs. Golden State Warriors (Series tied 3-3)

WHERE: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA (17,608)

WHEN: Sunday, Apr. 30, 2023, 2:30 p.m. CT

TELEVISION: ABC

Betting via SI SportsBook

SPREAD: Sacramento -1.5

TOTAL: 229.5

MONEYLINE: Sacramento -118, Golden State +100

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