Yesterday the California Classic schedule was announced with a glaring omission; The Kings were no longer among the teams participating. The Kings had founded the event back in 2018 and had participated each year up until this point. This year only the Warriors, Lakers, Spurs and Heat would participate in a two day event at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
On the one hand, it’s not too surprising that the Kings might not want to field a team for the event given that they aren’t hosting and that they don’t have a first round pick in this year’s draft. Kings fans aren’t likely to drive to San Francisco to watch Devin Carter and Isaac Jones get some scrimmage run. But on the other hand, it’s still kind of weird that the Kings won’t be participating in an event they founded. This doesn’t mean the Kings are out of the event forever however, as Carmichael Dave reports that the Kings and Golden 1 Center will once again host in 2026 and every other year after. The Kings also will still field a team for the main Summer League event in Las Vegas which takes place from July 10th-20th with all 30 NBA teams participating.
I for one am not too worried or upset about the lack of participation in an event that isn’t going to be at Golden 1 Center anyways. The Classic has always been more for fans than anything, and the Kings have much more important work to do this summer. The last thing Scott Perry needs to worry about right now is fielding a team of mostly undrafted free agents to go practice for a couple of days in San Francisco.