Sacramento Kings

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The Sacramento Kings are the oldest team in the NBA. They also hold the record for the most losses of any franchise in league history. The team began in 1923 as a sponsored semi-professional club in Rochester, New York. Decades of relocation followed before the franchise settled in California's capital. They won a championship long before Sacramento hosted a professional basketball game. They also came within one game of the NBA Finals, in a series whose officiating triggered a formal federal review. What followed was 16 consecutive losing seasons, the longest such run in NBA history. How the Kings reached Golden 1 Center in Sacramento winds through championship glory, heartbreaking tragedy, and basketball controversy. Some of that controversy has never been fully resolved.

  192040461

• 2. The Harrison Brothers' Gamble

  ›

  Lester Harrison paid $25,000 alongside his brother Jack to join the National Basketball League in 1945. That fee was steep enough that the Rochester Seagrams organization had refused to cover it. Harrison had been a local high school star in Rochester who rose to become the Seagrams' captain, coach, manager, and chief scout. When the NBL announced expansion as World War II neared its end, Harrison seized the opportunity. His brother Jack, a lawyer, pooled money with him to cover the franchise entry fee.

  With no player draft in the NBL, Harrison could recruit freely. He signed Bob Davies, Red Holzman, and William "Fuzzy" Levane, and added free agents George Glamack and Al Cervi. The result was a league championship in the Royals' very first NBL season, 1945-46.

  The team jumped to the rival Basketball Association of America in 1948, alongside the Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers, and Indianapolis Jets. That placed Rochester squarely against George Mikan's Minneapolis Lakers, who won the NBA Championship five times between 1949 and 1954. Rochester was the only team to interrupt that streak. In 1951, the Royals defeated the New York Knicks 4-3 for the only NBA title the franchise has ever won.

  The Rochester years produced nine future Basketball Hall of Famers. They included Al Cervi, Bob Davies, Alex Hannum, Lester Harrison, Red Holzman, Arnie Risen, Maurice Stokes, Jack Twyman, and Bobby Wanzer. Others who passed through the roster included Pro Football Hall of Famer Otto Graham and Hollywood Walk of Fame honoree Chuck Connors.

  From 1945 to 1954, Harrison's Royals finished no lower than second in their division, yet the franchise lost money in Rochester's smaller market. The NBA brought its 1956 All-Star Game to Rochester War Memorial as a goodwill gesture. Pressure to sell or relocate continued to mount. On the 1st of February 1957, the Royals played a regular-season game at Cincinnati Gardens that drew a warm local response. The 1956-57 season became the Royals' last in Rochester.

  1920212224

• 3. Tragedy in the Queen City

  ›

  In April 1957, the Harrison brothers moved the Royals to Cincinnati. The city had been trying to secure an NBA expansion franchise of its own. Cincinnati's strong college basketball fanbase and the temporary absence of an NFL team made it an appealing destination.

  The Royals' first Cincinnati draft added Clyde Lovellette and guard George King. With Maurice Stokes and Jack Twyman anchoring the roster alongside the new additions, the team appeared to be building toward contention. Stokes was a player of extraordinary range, ranking second in the NBA in rebounds and third in assists.

  In the final game of the 1957-58 regular season, Stokes fell hard while pursuing a rebound and briefly lost consciousness. He appeared to recover and played the opening playoff game three days later. During the flight back to Cincinnati for Game Two, the change in cabin pressure triggered a seizure. Stokes was permanently hospitalized. Six teammates, shaken by the tragedy, retired immediately. The 1958-59 Cincinnati squad featured five rookies.

  Jack Twyman refused to abandon his teammate. He legally adopted Stokes as his ward and raised funds for his care for the next twelve years, until Stokes died in April 1970. The 1973 film Maurie, co-starring Bernie Casey and Bo Svenson, told their story. As a player during those years, Twyman rose to All-Pro level. He became the second NBA player ever to average 30 points per game for a full season.

  In 1960, the Royals landed local superstar Oscar Robertson. Robertson averaged a triple-double across the entire 1961-62 season and won the Most Valuable Player award in 1964. In late 1963, Jerry Lucas joined the team. Lucas was Rookie of the Year in 1964, led the league in field-goal percentage, and later averaged 20 rebounds per game over four seasons.

  An ownership dispute in early 1963 cost the team dearly. New owner Louis Jacobs had booked a circus at Cincinnati Gardens during the week of a playoff series against the champion Boston Celtics. Robertson was traded to Milwaukee in 1970, where he immediately won an NBA championship. The franchise announced its move to Kansas City on the 14th of March 1972. Before 4,022 fans at Cincinnati Gardens on March 24, the Royals defeated the Baltimore Bullets 132-114 in their last Cincinnati home game. Two nights later, 10,289 watched them beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 135-122 at the Cleveland Arena, the franchise's final appearance as a Cincinnati team.

  2625242223

• 4. The Kansas City Kings

  ›

  Nate Archibald arrived in Kansas City in 1972 and immediately achieved something unprecedented in NBA history. He led the league in both scoring and assists in the same season, becoming the first player in NBA history to accomplish that double.

  The franchise had renamed itself the Kings to avoid confusion with the Kansas City Royals baseball team. For the first three seasons, home games were split between two arenas: Kansas City's 7,316-seat Municipal Auditorium and Omaha's 9,300-seat Civic Auditorium in Nebraska. The team played 42 regular-season games in Omaha between 1972 and 1975. Moving into the new 16,785-seat Kemper Arena in 1974 gave the franchise a more stable home. By 1975, the team dropped "Omaha" from its name entirely.

  Kansas City also inherited an unusual jersey design from Cincinnati: the player's surname placed below the number, reversed from standard practice. The WNBA and NBA Development League both later adopted this template, and the NBA used it for All-Star Game uniforms beginning in 2006.

  Under coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, the Kings won the Midwest Division in 1978-79. Phil Ford earned NBA Rookie of the Year that season. Alongside Otis Birdsong and Sam Lacey, the team drew 10,789 fans per home game to Kemper Arena. It was the only season during the Kansas City era that average attendance reached five figures.

  The 1981 NBA playoffs produced the franchise's most improbable run. Power forward Reggie King dominated the early rounds, and Ernie Grunfeld stepped in at point guard for the injured Phil Ford. The Kings became the first fifth seed to eliminate a first seed. They then won Game 7 against the Phoenix Suns 95-88 to reach the Western Conference Finals. There they lost to the Houston Rockets in five games. It was the franchise's first postseason victory since 1964 and its only conference finals appearance during the Kansas City years.

  A severe storm collapsed the Kemper Arena roof in 1979, forcing the Kings to play most of the 1979-80 season in the smaller Municipal Auditorium. Cleveland Cavaliers owner Ted Stepien lured away Otis Birdsong and Scott Wedman with large contract offers. Joe Axelson was rehired as general manager. He would eventually become the first general manager in sports history to fail with the same franchise in four cities: Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha, and Sacramento. Average attendance fell to 6,410 fans per game in the Kings' final 1984-85 season. On the 8th of June 1983, the franchise was sold for $10.5 million to a Sacramento-based investment group led by Joseph Benvenuti and managing partner Gregg Lukenbill. NBA team owners approved the transfer on the 16th of April 1985.

  2527303334

• 5. The Greatest Show on Court

  ›

  A February 2001 Sports Illustrated cover featured five Sacramento Kings under a headline calling them "The Greatest Show on Court." Jason Williams, Doug Christie, Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber, and Vlade Divac graced that cover. General manager Geoff Petrie had won the NBA Executive of the Year Award twice. Head coach Rick Adelman ran a Princeton-style offense that drew admirers across the league.

  The resurgence had begun in 1998-99, when Petrie traded for Webber and signed Divac. That season, Sacramento went 27-23 for the first winning record in nearly twenty years and the team's first since moving to Sacramento. Webber led the league in rebounds and earned All-NBA Second Team honors. Williams made the NBA All-Rookie First Team. Divac ranked near the top of the roster in most statistical categories.

  Peja Stojakovic had been drafted in 1996 and arrived from PAOK BC in Greece. In July 2001, Williams and Nick Anderson were traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies for Mike Bibby and Brent Price. With Bibby running the offense, Sacramento posted a league-best 61-21 record in 2001-02, winning 36 of 41 home games. After beating the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks in the opening two rounds, the Kings advanced to the Western Conference Finals. There they faced the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.

  Game 6 of that series became one of the most contested games in NBA history. The Kings led three games to two heading into it. The Lakers were awarded 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone. The New York Post ran a front-page headline calling it "Foul Play" and published an article suggesting the game had been fixed. NBA analyst David Aldridge, then working for ESPN, addressed the controversy on air. He said: "There is nothing I can say that will explain 27 free throws for the Lakers in the fourth quarter." The Kings lost Game 6, then Game 7. A Sacramento win would have sent the city to its first NBA Finals.

  Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy later made allegations that prompted an independent review. Lawrence Pedowitz, who led the review, concluded that while Game 6 featured poor officiating, no concrete evidence existed that the game had been fixed. The Kings went 59-23 the following season. Chris Webber sustained a major knee injury in Game 2 of the 2003 playoffs against Dallas, and Sacramento never returned to the Western Conference Finals. In February 2004, Webber was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Corliss Williamson, Kenny Thomas, and Brian Skinner, three forwards who could not replicate his impact.

  4044463941

• 6. Light the Beam

  ›

  Before the 2005-06 season, Stojakovic was traded for Ron Artest, a forward known for his volatile temperament. Despite a winning record of 44-38, the Kings lost to the San Antonio Spurs 4-2 in the first round of the playoffs. That June, Rick Adelman's contract was not renewed. His replacement, Eric Musselman, pleaded no contest to DUI charges early in the 2006-07 season. The Kings finished 33-49 and the franchise entered a long decline.

  Tyreke Evans, selected fourth overall in 2009, became the first Sacramento-era player to win NBA Rookie of the Year. Evans averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists per game as a rookie. Only Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James had previously reached that statistical threshold in a single season. DeMarcus Cousins joined the following year as the fifth overall pick. Sacramento went 25-57 in Evans's rookie year and 24-58 in Cousins's.

  In 2011, the Maloof family, who owned the franchise, sought to relocate the Kings to Anaheim. The NBA Board of Governors voted the move down. On the 16th of May 2013, the Maloofs agreed to sell the team. The sale closed on May 31 at $534 million, a record valuation for an NBA franchise. The buyer was a group led by Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive. On the 23rd of September 2013, Shaquille O'Neal purchased a minority stake and nicknamed the new ownership group the "Shaqramento Kings."

  In February 2017, DeMarcus Cousins was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. The 2017 draft brought De'Aaron Fox with the fifth overall pick. The 2018 draft drew criticism when general manager Vlade Divac selected Marvin Bagley III while Luka Doncic remained available.

  On the 9th of May 2022, Golden State Warriors associate head coach Mike Brown was hired to lead the Kings. Earlier that season, Sacramento had sent Tyrese Haliburton to the Indiana Pacers for Domantas Sabonis. In 2022-23, the Kings began projecting a large purple beam into the Sacramento sky after each home victory. The gesture inspired the crowd chant "Light the Beam." Fox and Sabonis earned All-Star selections and All-NBA Third Team honors that season. On the 24th of February 2023, Sacramento beat the Los Angeles Clippers 176-175 in double overtime in the second-highest scoring game in NBA history. The game behind it was a the 13th of December 1983, triple-overtime contest between the Detroit Pistons and the Denver Nuggets. Malik Monk scored a career-high 45 points; Fox added 42. It was the first time two Sacramento Kings players had each scored at least 40 points in one game. On March 29, Sacramento beat the Portland Trail Blazers 120-80, clinching a playoff berth for the first time in 17 years. The Golden State Warriors eliminated Sacramento in seven games in the first round. Mike Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year. After a 13-18 start the following season, the Kings fired Brown just 18 months after he won that award. On the 3rd of February 2025, Fox was traded to the San Antonio Spurs. The deal brought Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls, Sidy Cissoko, and a 2025 first-round pick from Charlotte to Sacramento. Russell Westbrook joined the team as a free agent the following season.

  7553616054