October 17, 2026 at 3:05 PM UTC

Postgame Report

Spurs close the preseason with a 126-97 rout of Kings

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San Antonio ran its full dress rehearsal to a 29-point win over a Sacramento team that again was short on rotation players and finished the preseason without a victory.

SAN ANTONIO — The preseason finale for both teams played out the way these games sometimes do, with one side rehearsing for opening night and the other mostly getting through it. The Spurs beat the Kings 126-97 on Friday, a 29-point margin that was not in doubt for long, and then turned to the real schedule.

Sacramento came in thin again. Malik Monk was inactive with ankle soreness, and his status for opening night remains uncertain. Raynaud and Cardwell were also out. It has been the defining thread of the Kings' exhibition season: Domantas Sabonis has played only about 10 minutes in total and Simmons about 8, so the group that took the floor here was never close to the one Sacramento will start the year with.

The result leaves the Kings without a win in the preseason, which they had hoped to fix in the last game. They had little to work with against a Spurs team that had its own reasons to play this one seriously. San Antonio planned to give its starters extended run as a full dress rehearsal for the season opener against Oklahoma City, and it followed a blowout of the Suns on Wednesday, its first preseason win. This was a second comfortable night in a row.

There was a side plot as well, with De'Aaron Fox facing the franchise he used to play for. It added some interest to an otherwise lopsided night. Both teams now move on to games that count, and San Antonio looks much closer to ready than Sacramento does.

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