Sacramento Kings are a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team competes in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Kings play their home games in the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.
The Kings franchise made its NBA debut in 1948 as the Rochester Royals. In 1951, the team captured the franchise’s only NBA championship behind center Arnie Risen and Bob Davies, one of the greatest guards in NBA history. After nine seasons in Rochester, the team moved to Cincinnati in 1957.
The Royals played in Cincinnati for 15 seasons, including the 1963-1964 season in which the team won a franchise record 55 games over an 80-game schedule. The star of the team was guard Oscar Robertson, one of the greatest all-around players in NBA history.
Before the 1972-1973 season, the franchise moved to Kansas City, Missouri, but also played games in Omaha, Nebraska. The team became known as the Kansas City-Omaha Kings. The biggest star of the early 1970’s was the high-scoring guard Nate Archibald. The team dropped “Omaha” from its name and played primarily in Kansas City starting with the 1975-1976 season. It won its division in 1978-1979, led by guards Otis Birdsong and Phil Ford, forward Scott Wedman, and center Sam Lacey.
In 1983, the team was purchased by a Sacramento business group. The team began play in Sacramento in the 1985-1986 season. The Kings made the playoffs their first season in Sacramento. The 2000-2001 team advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 20 years before losing to the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers. The next season, the Kings won a franchise record 61 games over an 82-game schedule, but lost to the Lakers again, this time in the conference finals. The Kings of that era featured such stars as guard Mike Bibby, center Vlade Divac, and forwards Chris Webber and Predrag Stojakovic. Point guard De’Aaron Fox became a leader of the Kings in the early 2020’s.
See also Archibald, Nate ; Robertson, Oscar ; Russell, Bill .
