Preview: Undefeated Warriors visit Kings in quest to stay undefeated

Golden State battle their third straight Pacific Division rival Sunday evening.

The Golden State Warriors are undefeated and would love to stay that way. The Sacramento Kings are 1-1 this season, with a win over the Portland Trail Blazers and a close loss to the Utah Jazz. But you know what they say: misery loves company, and I’m sure the Kings would love to bring some misery in the form of a loss to the Dubs.

Who: Golden State Warriors @ Sacramento Kings

When: Tuesday, October 24th, 2021 @ 6PM PT

How to Watch: TNT

How to Listen: NBC Sports Bay Area

Injuries:

Warriors: Klay Thompson (out, Achilles), James Wiseman (out, knee) Jonathan Kuminga (out, knee)

Kings: Moe Harkless (day to day, hip)

The Kings are an interesting outfit this year. They’ve got young young guys like Tyrese Halliburton and Davion Mitchell and relatively young guys like De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley. They also have some vets who are familiar to Dub Nation, like former Cleveland Cavalier Tristan Thompson and former Warrior Harrison “Black Falcon” Barnes.

Buddy Hield is in his fifth year and just passed Peja Stojakovic to become the all-time Kings leader in made threes. For anyone of my generation that’s kind of a big deal, considering Peja was a top-tier elite shooter back during the Laker-Kings wars.

Going back to the aforementioned Mitchell… the Warriors selected Jonathan Kuminga as their #7 pick in this year’s highly anticipated draft, passing on Mitchell in a minor surprise to Warriors fans. Mitchell was a guy who had a ton of predraft buzz, evidenced by the discussion he generated during Dub Nation HQ’s Draft Tourney presented by the living legend Eric Apricot. Here’s an excerpt from that series, penned by GSOM blogfather Nate P.:

So I’ve been trying to ready myself for the possibility of getting Mitchell all day … and I’m just searching for any positives at this point … and the one thing that I can hang onto is a lineup including Mitchell – Thompson – Wiggins – Green could grow into something terrifying. I mean I was watching those videos and *I* was feeling anxiety just watching — imagine handling the ball against him! And that’s really cool! Guys like Patrick Beverly and Tony Allen have carved out solid careers for themselves doing something similar!

But man … it’s really hard to see him being a productive offensive player … and pestering college guards is not at all pestering NBA guards … so … I just have a hard time justifying him at #7. He’s a guy who would be a nice find later in the draft, but there’s gotta be a better option at #7…

Wellp, the Kings took Mitchell and have been quite pleased with him. Here’s an excerpt from The Kings Herald about Mitchell’s performance in a tough loss to the dangerous Utah Jazz:

Mitchell’s stat line won’t leap off the page, with 3 points, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 1 rebound, but Mitchell’s defense was INSANE tonight. He flustered whoever he was guarding, and generated multiple highlight-reel defensive possessions. This kid is legit, and is already one of my favorite players to watch.

CALL THE POLICE, THAT’S D-MITCH ON D-MITCH CRIME! Mitchell had his nicknamesake on maximum security lockdown on that possession.

You think he’ll do that to Stephen Curry, greatest point guard alive? And herein lies the gulf between Sacramento and Golden State: the Warriors also have multiple promising lottery picks, but Dubs have a squadron of veterans to do the heavy lifting while the younglings learn in due time.

Mitchell could have been drafted by the Warriors braintrust to saddle up alongside Curry. Instead he’ll be thrown into the arena to face a man so dangerous, the Clippers spent most of their night desperately trying to keep him from even touching the ball last Tuesday.

WARRIORS! KINGS! NEXT!