How will one and two play? Spotlight is on top draft picks for Kings preseason opener

The top two picks from June’s NBA Draft will take the floor when the Kings visit the Phoenix Suns in their preseason opener Monday night at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

The Suns took DeAndre Ayton with the No. 1 pick after the 7-foot-1 center averaged 20.1 points and 11.6 rebounds as a freshman at Arizona. The Kings took Marvin Bagley III at No. 2 after the 6-11 forward averaged 21 points and 11.1 rebounds in his first season at Duke.

Ayton and Bagley faced off for the first time at the Las Vegas Summer League in July. Ayton scored 21 points to lead the Suns to a 71-63 victory. Bagley, who had 15 points, was injured in that game and missed the rest of summer league, but he is healthy now.

After a fast and physical first week of training camp, Bagley and the Kings are eager to get away from their practice facility to face the Suns in Phoenix.

“My goal is to just make sure I’m ready for the first preseason game,” Bagley said. “I know it’s preseason, but any game that we step on the floor, we’ve got to take it seriously, so I’m definitely looking forward to that game.”

Kings coach Dave Joerger said the team still has plenty of work to do.

“We’ve had a pretty good week of camp,” Joerger said. “In the first four days, we had seven practices. Guys got better. The conditioning has improved. We’ve still got a ways to go. Fundamentals have improved – still have a long, long ways to go. “

He said the team would have a “hard shoot-around” Monday morning before the game.

“We’ll play with whatever legs and whatever brains we have left Monday night,” he said.

The Kings will visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday and face the Golden State Warriors on Friday at Key Arena in Seattle, Wash.

They will play Maccabi Haifa on Oct. 8 and the Utah Jazz on Oct. 11 at Golden 1 Center before concluding their preseason schedule on the road against the Portland Trailblazers on Oct. 12.

Second-year guard Frank Mason said the Kings can learn a lot about themselves in six preseason games.

“The preseason is always good for us,” Mason said. “We can use that in so many ways to get better. We’ll attack that with a great mindset getting ready for the regular season.”

Mason said the Kings are looking forward to facing the Suns after battling each other in a grueling first week of practice.

“I know everyone on the team is looking to learn something from the game, and I know we will,” Mason said. “We’ll get back and watch film for whatever mistakes or things we’ve done wrong in the game and just try to adjust to that and improve on those things. Other than that, I’m just excited, man. I’m ready to get started.”

This story was originally published October 1, 2018 at 12:00 AM.