Year One

Sixteen Years.

That’s a long time, no matter how old you are. For me, that’s about half of my life so far. So much can happen in sixteen years. Just think about where you were in 2006 and what the world was like. The smart phone you might be reading this on hadn’t even been invented yet. But for all the change that happened in those sixteen years, there was one constant: the Sacramento Kings missing the playoffs, year after year. Until now.

It certainly wasn’t supposed to take this long. I certainly didn’t think so when as a bright-eyed, naïve 19 year old, I found a fan site called “Sactown Royalty” and decided to share my thoughts on how Jason Thompson and Spencer Hawes might be the new Chris Webber and Vlade Divac. For most of my fandom at that point, the Kings were NBA royalty, the “greatest show on court”. It was only in the last few years that the franchise had begun to take a turn for the worse. But with Geoff Petrie at the helm, he’d get the team right back on track sooner rather than later wouldn’t he? And I wanted to be there, writing about the team I loved so much as they ascended back atop the mountaintop to right the wrongs of 2002 and capture that elusive ring.

Slowly but surely, hope and optimism would fade. Year after year the Kings would seemingly find themselves no closer to getting out of the cellar. A year became two became five became ten. There were fun moments, to be sure, but they were few and far between, outweighed by various bouts of incompetence and indifference from a once proud franchise. Kings fans rallied like crazy to prevent the team from moving, hoping that with new ownership, a new building and new management, things would improve. But whatever improvement came was marginal at best, a pig with a new shade of lipstick.

The years dragged on, and many fans reached the end of their rope. It’s hard to blame them. At some point, the fun is gone and what’s the point of watching or supporting a product that isn’t fun? The only thing that kept me going, and I know the same can be said for many of you, is the shared commiseration with my fellow Kings fans, holding on to that last shred of hope that this drought couldn’t possibly last forever but supporting each other while it did. 

I knew the Kings would get back to the playoffs some day, but I was resigned to it being almost as much of a letdown as anything else. We had seen the Kings make “win-now” moves time and time again in order to try to break down the drought and those short-term moves had long-term ramifications that kept setting the team back. I saw the Kings becoming a 7th or 8th seed by the skin of their teeth and then flaming out in the first round, the drought technically broken but the franchise still a long way from being actually relevant.

When the Kings traded Tyrese Haliburton for Domantas Sabonis last year, there was immediate vitriol from both within and without the fanbase. For many, this was yet another short term gamble, a desperation move from a desperate team. After sixteen years of abject failure, the Kings were definitely considered guilty before being proven innocent. New GM Monte McNair was unproven, and this was his first real big swing. Haliburton had the looks of a major star in the future, and even getting a player of Sabonis’ caliber was seen as incredibly risky, especially with his contract up in a couple of years. But the Kings were stuck in neutral, and McNair needed to do something drastic.

The Kings were also lambasted by many in the summer when they lucked into the 4th pick of the draft and opted to take Keegan Murray over Jaden Ivey. Ivey was younger and perceived to have far more upside, but the Kings viewed Murray as a great prospect who would fit in perfectly beside Sabonis and Fox. The conversation started to change a little in Summer League when Murray gave a preview of what was to come with his sharp shooting from outside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYiCwUTad9w

McNair had more than just player personnel to add. Mike Brown was hired to be the latest in a long line of head coaches attempting to right the ship, and he was viewed as a solid if unspectacular hire at the time. Brown had experience and a championship pedigree, but it had been a while since he himself had coached a team, spending most of his recent tenure as an assistant with Golden State. The Kings had gone through 11 coaches in 16 years, with none of them lasting for more than a couple of years. The Kings needed to nail this coaching hire more than ever, and in Brown, they knocked it out of the park.

With Brown at the helm, and other new additions like Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk, there was a sense that this team was going to be better. How much better, nobody knew at the time, but the good vibes were palpable in preseason. Then came an 0-4 start to the season that made every Kings fan think “Here we go again”.

But this time it was different. This time, the Kings didn’t break under adversity. They fought back. The Kings went 10-2 over their next 12 games and never looked back. In their only scheduled nationally televised game on TNT, the Kings blew the roof of Golden 1 Center, throttling the Brooklyn Nets 153-121 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates. The Kings began putting up historic numbers, as in most efficient offense in NBA history numbers. 

Beyond Brown’s steady hand at the helm, much of that was due to the fantastic play of Sacramento’s two stars: Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox. Sabonis rightfully got a lot of the attention at the beginning as the newcomer in the big trade, and it was well deserved, as he was the ultimate force multiplier. The Kings run most of their offense through Sabonis, and whether it’s dribble hand-offs, pick and rolls or attacking the basket by himself, he’s constantly maneuvering the defense to get the best opportunity for the Kings. Sabonis has amassed 12 triple-doubles this season as a Sacramento King and to put in context how ridiculous that is, Chris Webber is the franchise leader (Sacramento-era) in triple-doubles, and he had 14 in his entire tenure with the team. Oh, and he’s done most of this playing with a broken thumb that he sustained in December.

While Sabonis has definitely elevated the team, no individual player has elevated their own game as much as De’Aaron Fox. Fox has been the face of the franchise ever since being drafted by the Kings in 2017, but while he has put up good numbers and been a good player, he hasn’t been good enough to carry the team to the top. Many fans and pundits felt that Fox was the player the Kings should have traded last February instead of Haliburton.

But with Haliburton gone and a multi-talented big man in Sabonis to play off of, as well as a myriad of shooters, Fox has taken his game to new heights. He’s averaging career-highs in both scoring and shooting efficiency, and no player in the entire NBA has been as clutch. Fox not only has the most points scored in the clutch of any player all season, he’s also been the most efficient player in the clutch. Time and time again this season when the Kings have needed to close a game out, it’s been De’Aaron Fox who has stepped up and carried the Kings past the finish line.

For Fox, this is redemption. No player on the team has been here longer, or faced as much adversity in his career. Fox came into the league wanting to be drafted by the Kings and change the narrative. He’s kept his promise.

What has happened this season is nothing short of magical. In terms of highlights, this season has enough for a decade. Multiple game-winners. Multiple win streaks. De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis becoming Sacramento’s first double All-Star selection for the Kings since Brad Miller and Peja Stojakovic. A 176-175 double overtime victory over the Clippers that was the second highest scoring game of all time.

Beyond the play on the court, the team is having fun off the court as well. The introduction of the Beam was marketing genius, and what could have been a funny gimmick has instead become a fully embraced tradition, with “Light the Beam” chants erupting not only in Golden 1 Center, but in arenas all around the league. Fans love seeing which player gets the “DPOG” chain after games and the postgame celebrations from the locker room after big wins. Sellouts are back to being standard, and you can see Kings gear being worn everywhere in Sacramento, even on days when the Kings aren’t playing. Last night, after the Kings clinched the game on the road, fans gathered outside Golden 1 Center anyway to celebrate.

It’s a party out here pic.twitter.com/NR44BXXmGo

— Cameron Salerno (@cameronsalerno1) March 30, 2023

Sixteen years leaves a lot of emotional scarring. As recently as the All-Star break, with the Kings sitting at 3rd in the Western Conference, there were fans who were fearful that it would all come crashing down. Even I, writing this article technically before the Kings have officially clinched, have a small, tiny voice in the back of my head saying “Don’t you dare write this article because you’re just going to jinx them into losing every game from here on out”.

But this team is for real. For their part, the team is doing a good job of not making a huge deal out of this. For them, making the playoffs is just the first of many expectations that have been met and not an end goal in and of itself. This team has higher aspirations and I’m looking forward to seeing them prove themselves under the bright lights of the postseason.

Who knows what happens from here or how long it lasts, but I’m planning on enjoying it for as long as I can. This may be the most fun I’ve had as a Kings fan in my entire life. Moments and memories like these are why we fought so hard to keep the team here. And somewhere, there’s a kid watching Domantas Sabonis pass the ball to Kevin Huerter for three, or imitating De’Aaron Fox crossing up a defender, or chanting “MURRAY” along with the crowd on the TV who is becoming a fan for life, just like many of us did watching Mitch Richmond or Jason Williams or Chris Webber or many others who have donned the purple and black. 

So savor the moment, Kings fans, and forget about the last sixteen years. This is Year One.