The Kings are a team that could be a dark-horse candidate to challenge for a playoff spot during the upcoming 2022-23 NBA season, or at the very least make life difficult for opposing teams.
Sacramento has a young squad, but there's plenty of upside with players like De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis in the starting lineup.
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Despite those two already penciled in as starters alongside Harrison Barnes, coach Mike Brown has yet to decide the rest of the lineup he will put out on opening night against the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at Golden 1 Center.
As a result, the starting shooting guard and power forward spots will be open for any player to win this preseason, so the Kings are welcoming competition within the team during training camp and the preseason.
"I'm not even sure who the first five are gonna be quite yet," Brown told reporters (H/T Deuce Mason). "You know, obviously Fox is going to start for us. Domantas is gonna start for us. HB is going to start for us, you know, but, you know, we're kind of up in there a little bit with the 2 and the 4 spots.
"Right now, there are some guys that we feel have a real good chance at starting for us in those spots, but we're going to keep probably mixing those two spots around to see what we can get."
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Keegan Murray, the No. 4 overall selection in the 2022 NBA Draft, will have an opportunity to win the starting power forward job right out of the gate, so all eyes are going to be on the 22-year-old during the preseason.
As for the starting shooting guard, it could be a tight competition between Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter.
The 24-year-old Huerter, who came over in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks in the offseason, has the size advantage and has experience playing the shooting guard and small forward positions.
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Meanwhile, Monk does have experience playing alongside Fox as the two were teammates at Kentucky, so that could play into his favor. However, at 6-foot-3, Monk doesn't have the size Huerter, who stands at 6-foot-7.
Whoever should come out and win those two starting roles can join Barnes, Fox, and Sabonis to help the Kings get off to a good start to begin the 2022-23 NBA season and potentially clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2006.