Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). more...

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Home arenas

Edgerton Park Arena (1948-1955)

Rochester War Memorial (1955-1958)

Cincinnati Gardens (1958-1972)

Kansas City Municipal Auditorium (1972-1974)

Omaha Civic Auditorium (1972-1978)

Kemper Arena (1974-1985)

ARCO Arena I (1985-1988)

ARCO Arena II (1988-present)

Franchise history

The franchise started in 1945 as a member of the National Basketball League as the Rochester Royals. After winning the 1946 NBL title, the Royals shifted to the Basketball Association of America in 1948. They would win an NBA title in 1951, which would be the only one to date in the team's history. In 1957, the team moved to Cincinnati. In the 1960-1961 season, Oscar Robertson joined the team, and though he played brilliantly, he along with another future hall of famer Jerry Lucas could not lead the Royals to the NBA Championship and by the 1970-1971 season he left the Royals to join the Milwaukee Bucks, and in 1972, the team moved to Kansas City, Missouri and renamed themselves the Kings (because of the Royals baseball franchise in the same community). For several years, the team divided its home games between Kansas City and Omaha. However, not even the talents of Nate "Tiny" Archibald could change the fortunes of the team in a new town. In the 1980-1981 season, the Kings made a surprise run in the NBA Playoffs, they beat the Phoenix Suns in the divisional playoffs before they were eliminated by the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference Finals.

The Kings moved west to their current home of Sacramento in 1985. Much of their early tenure in Sacramento was spent as the NBA's bottom dwellers, making playoffs only one time between 1985 and 1995. Some of their early lack of success was attributed to poor luck, such as the virtually career-ending car crash suffered by promising point guard Bobby Hurley, and some was attributed to poor management such as the too-long tenure of head coach Garry St. Jean and the selection of "Never Nervous Pervis" Ellison with the first overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft. The Kings finally broke through mediocrity with the draft selection of Jason Williams, the signing of Vlade Divac, and the trade of Mitch Richmond for Chris Webber prior to the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. These acquisitions coincided with the arrival of Peja Stojakovic, who had been drafted in 1996. Each of these moves was attributed to general manager Geoff Petrie who has won NBA Executive of the Year several times.

Following these acquisitions, the Kings rose in the NBA ranks, becoming a perennial playoff contender, as well as one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. Led by new head coach Rick Adelman, and aided by former Princeton head coach and Kings assistant Pete Carril, their so-called "Princeton offense" turned heads around the league for its run-and-gun style, superb ball movement, and the team's seeming ability to score at will. The Kings led the league in average points per game year in and year out, and quickly became the NBA poster child for playing the "right" way: both successful and extremely fun to watch. Critics still found fault with the Kings, citing their poor team defense, Williams' "flash over substance" style of play leading to too many turnovers, and the lack of a big-game player, as Webber was knocked for often failing to step up his game in important matchups. Still, they quickly became NBA darlings, garnering many fans outside of California, and even around the world, many of which were enthralled by Williams's amazing passing abilities and Webber's sharp all-around game. Despite their tremendous successes, they were still a young team, and were ultimately defeated by more experienced teams in the playoffs, losing to the Utah Jazz in 1999 (in a thrilling five-game matchup), and the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000.

Read more at Wikipedia.org