It’s fun to have fun

On Wednesday evening I had fun, a lot of fun, watching Kings basketball. I watched every second of the 48 minutes played and enjoyed just about every second of those 48 minutes – something that hasn’t happened in weeks, and probably much longer.

The Sacramento Kings have been so miserable for so long, both in the micro of this season and in the macro of the last 16 years, that the fun of fandom has been occasionally, or maybe often, forgotten, at least by me. And forgotten is probably not quite accurate. The fun of being a Kings fan, not a writer for The Kings Herald, or a member of this community, or an annoying Twitter personality, has been crushed and buried and suffocated under alternating waves of anger and apathy over the past too many years. Sure, it may occasionally surface on the back of a well-executed fourth quarter or a big De’Aaron Fox performance or a shocking buzzer-beater, but those times have been far too rare for reasonable folks. Hence why so many have disappeared or departed over the years.

And to be clear, the sort of fun up for discussion isn’t the exaltation of getting a high draft pick or moving up in the lottery, nor is it the sarcastic joy of watching a horrendous plan fall apart, nor is it the relief of finally shedding an awful player or an awful coach or an awful GM on an awful contract. It’s the pure, unadulterated enjoyment of watching your team play well and unselfishly and win ball games in the sport you love so much.

When was the last time we saw that consistently in Sacramento?

It’s hard to think of the last time anyone had fun watching an entire game of Kings basketball from start to finish. It’s almost impossible to find a recent time in which a Kings player has had fun playing Kings basketball for 48 minutes. Hell, when was the last time De’Aaron Fox, he of the thousand-watt smile and wholehearted desire to turn things around in Sacramento, seemed to be having fun, period?

Instead of the fun and hope and promise that should define most seasons for most organizations, this franchise has historically bent the opposite direction. At some point in each season over the last decade-and-a-half, a majority of Kings fans have been forced to root for their team to lose, the most miserable position possible for a fan. While some may phrase it as “being okay with losses” or “rooting for wins but not getting upset if it goes the other way”, in the end, most folks, whether they prefer to admit it or not, are rooting for blown leads for improved lottery odds around this time each year. What may be sarcastically entertaining for other fan bases for a year or two has devolved into a miserable state of being for many within the Sacramento family, myself included.

I’ve carried that same attitude for the majority of this season, especially once it became clear that this roster was going nowhere fast. I knew it was in the best interest of everyone involved for the Kings to pile up as many losses as possible. Those terrible third quarters were actually great. Bad coaching was a godsend. Veterans giving up on the season and waiting for trades were doing us a solid. It’s miserable to be miserable for three-quarters of a season, but the tank had to go on.

For one night, last night, things felt different.

Last night was fun.

Sure, the defense was atrocious for about 40 minutes, turnovers were an issue at times, and Minnesota’s guards torched the Kings for the majority of the game, but for the first time in a long while, this team smiled. The players got along, passes were made, unselfish plays were rewarded, Domantas Sabonis was the brilliant offensive mind we all hoped he would be, and most importantly, the Kings won a damn game.

I don’t know what last night’s game means long-term for the play-in tournament or for the playoff drought or for lottery odds, but I do know that I had fun watching it, and it’s fun to have fun.