The Sacramento Kings won their season opener for the first time since 2003, beating the Timberwolves in Minnesota 117-116. Carl Landry and Francisco Garcia shared high-scoring honors for the Kings, with 22 apiece. Rookie DeMarcus Cousins, in his first NBA game, had a strong performance despite foul trouble, totaling 14 points on 5-10 shooting, eight rebounds (two offensive), five assists and two turnovers in 27 minutes. He was also a game-high +18. Fellow rookie Hassan Whiteside also saw his first NBA action, putting up a two fouls and nothing else in two minutes of play.

Luther Head filled in as the back-up point guard in Tyreke Evans' absence, and ran up 14 points on five FGAs and eight FTAs. He also had three assists and zero turnovers. As a team, the Kings had 25 assists (on 39 makes, impressive) and just 13 turnovers.

The Kings' defense wasn't particularly impressive, with Minnesota shooting 47% from the floor and committing just 13 turnovers. Luke Ridnour led the Wolves with 20 points on 8-13 shooting and six assists. Darko Milicic had 6 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 4 blocks in 24 minutes.