Three things to watch in Kings' preseason opener vs. Lakers

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The wait is over.

Kings basketball returns Monday night with their preseason opener against the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena.

Does the result matter? No. Will we overreact regardless? Absolutely.

Here are three things to keep an eye on Monday night as Sacramento begins the 2022-23 campaign:

Brown’s lineups

Now, this is interesting.

New Kings coach Mike Brown told reporters Saturday (h/t Duece Mason) that De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Harrison Barnes are inked as three of the Kings’ starters this season. But the starting off-guard and power forward positions are up for grabs.

At the 4, rookie Keegan Murray is the leader in the clubhouse. His competition is Chimezie Metu, who started 20 games last season, as well as Trey Lyles and Chima Moneke.

Unless Sacramento wants to ease Murray into NBA action -- which doesn't seem likely considering his summer league success -- it’s the rookie’s job to lose.

The shooting guard position is down to two candidates and both made their way to Sacramento this offseason.

Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk were acquired to fill the Kings' need for outside shooting. One of them is destined to start alongside Fox, and the other will log heavy minutes off the bench.

No longer playing alongside volume shooter Trae Young with the Atlanta Hawks, the 6-foot-7 Huerter will have a chance to display more of a well-rounded offensive game in Sacramento rather than being the designated catch-and-shoot sniper.

On the flip side, Monk sharing the court with Fox should prove to be an electric combination, just as it was in their lone collegiate season together at Kentucky.

The five players who start Monday’s game aren’t guaranteed to be starters in Sacramento's next preseason test Sunday, much less when the regular season tips off Oct. 19 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“We’re going to probably keep mixing those two spots around to see what we can get,” Brown said Saturday.

Brown appears open to leaning toward the lineup that proves to be the Kings' winning recipe.

Keegan’s (preseason) debut

Unfortunately, the NBA won’t be handing out the Rookie of the Year award Monday night even if Murray goes off for 30 points in 20 minutes.

Bummer, I know.

The last time Murray suited up, he drained four 3-pointers en route to a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double effort against the Phoenix Suns in Las Vegas.

Murray averaged 21.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game over seven summer league games -- three in the California Classic at Chase Center in San Francisco and another four in Las Vegas -- and has MVP hardware to prove it.

While Murray was the focal point of the Kings' offense this summer, he won't be during the regular season, playing alongside Fox and Sabonis. How Murray fits in with those two might be the biggest unknown of Sacramento's offensive potential.

Fox, Sabonis pairing up

We only saw Fox and Sabonis play 13 games together for a total of 360 minutes last season.

That’s a minuscule sample size.

In those 13 games, however, the results were encouraging. Sabonis averaged 18.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 5.8 assists and collected 10 double-doubles, while Fox logged 27.8 points, 6.2 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game.

RELATED: Watch Fox drain threes, Sabonis fine-tune jumper at practice

Brown has said that the Kings want to utilize Fox’s off-ball game this season, which could indicate the offense playing through Sabonis' elite passing ability rather than heavily leaning on Fox's ball handling and shot creation.

What will that partnership in the Brown regime look like? We’ll be receiving a preview Monday night.

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