Attempting to Rank NBA Franchises Post-2010: #30 Sacramento Kings
Where does the most-modern NBA begin? That’s a question I’ve asked myself many times.
Eras in the NBA usually flow pretty easily. The league went from George Mikan to Bill Russell and Jerry West to Wilt Chamberlain and a little later, Kareem Abdul Jabbar. That naturally led into Magic versus Bird, with a little of Dr J on the side. After that, Michael Jordan brought the league into a new stratosphere and handed the league off to Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant (with a very healthy dose of the San Antonio Spurs on the side.)
Then came the LeBron James era which logically, is the most modern basketball age. But like Kareem, LeBron has had such a long career that while he has been in the league, the NBA has changed drastically. And I’m not just talking about the bagginess of the uniforms.
For me, the league really started looking like its 2023 NBA version when James made his landmark decision on July 8, 2010 to join Dwyane Wade in Miami along with Chris Bosh. They weren’t the first super-team. Far from it. But the Heat Big 3 kickstarted a movement of player agency that the NBA had never seen before. It became more acceptable for players to become mercenaries. Basketball was a business and players were now keying in on that aspect.
Which is why when I sat down and decided to try and figure out a ranking of NBA franchises in the “modern” era, I decided to begin my journey in 2010–11; the first year of the Miami Big 3.
This ranking is mostly to go through the history of the last ~20 years of NBA basketball in pretty good detail. I’ll try to zone in on how each franchise has spent the last two decades. What worked, what didn’t. I’ll also have some segments that’ll vary from team to team to highlight important trades, draft busts or sleeper picks, players you might have forgotten suited for a particular franchise and other fun things like that.
I must acknowledge, I’m human. It would be impossible for me to pretend like I could ever be an unbiased source. I’ve been a Raptors fan essentially since they were introduced to the league. As such, there are also teams I loathe… mostly the Boston Celtics.
That said, I couldn’t trust myself to do this ranking in a fair manner without having some kind of formula dictate how it would go. I tried creating a system that valued different things that make the best franchises run-well: success year-over-year, playoff success, developing talent, having deep rosters and of course, star power. So here is the scoring system I came up with:
50-win season: Franchises got 1 point for every 50-win season they accumulated between 2010–11 and 2022–23.
60-win season: Franchises got 2 points for every 60-win season they accumulated between 2010–11 and 2022–23.
70-win season: Franchises got 3 points for every 70-win season they accumulated between 2010–11 and 2022–23. Admittedly, this will only apply once.
Making the playoffs: Franchises got 1 point every time they made the playoffs between the 2010–11 and 2022–23 seasons.
Making the 2nd round: Franchises got 2 poinst every time they made the 2nd round of the playoffs between the 2010–11 and 2022–23 seasons.
Conference Finals: Franchises got 3 points every time they made the conference finals between the 2010–11 and 2022–23 seasons.
Made finals: Franchises got 3 poinst every time they made the NBA finals between the 2010–11 and 2022–23 seasons.
Won Championship: Franchises got 5 points every time they won the Larry O’Brien trophy between the 2010–11 and 2022–23 seasons.
Three All-Stars: Franchises got 2 points for every season they had at least 3 players selected to the all-star team in a single season between 2010–11 and 2022–23.
Three All-NBA: Franchises got 3 points for every season they had at least 3 players selected to an all-NBA team in a single season between 2010–11 and 2022–23.
Six players averaged 10+ PPG: Franchises got 2 points for every year they had 6 players on their roster average more than 10 points per game in a season. A minimum of 50 games played with the team by the player was necessary to qualify.
Seven players averaged 10+ PPG: Franchises got 3 points for every year they had 7 players on their roster average more than 10 points per game in a season. A minimum of 50 games played with the team by the player was necessary to qualify.
MVP: For every player drafted in the 2010s that won MVP with their original franchise, those teams got 4 points. Draft day trades count the same as being drafted (EG: if Luka Doncic had won MVP, it would have counted for the Mavericks.)
DPOY: For every player drafted in the 2010s that won DPOY with their original franchise, those teams got 3 points. Draft day trades count the same as being drafted.
6MOY: For every player drafted in the 2010s that won 6MOY with their original franchise, those teams got 2 points. Draft day trades count the same as being drafted.
Most Improved: For every player drafted in the 2010s that won the Most Improved Player award with their original franchise, those teams got 2 points. Draft day trades count the same as being drafted.
Rookie of the year: Franchises got 3 points for having their player win rookie of the year.
5+ All-Star: For every player drafted in the 2010s who made 5+ All-Star appearances with their original franchise, that team got 2 points.
5+ All-NBA: For every player drafted in the 2010s who made 5+ All-NBA appearances with their original franchise, that team got 3 points.
All that preamble aside, let’s begin our ranking at the very bottom with #30, the Sacramento Kings
Scoring:
Listen, Kings fans. This decade-ish has been rough. I know. Y’all have had to endure some truly terrible seasons. It probably feels rough to end up at the bottom of this list even if you expected it. Nobody needed to do any kind of computing to understand that for the better part of 20 years, the Sacramento Kings have been truly terrible.
BUT! Things are looking up. The Kings snapped their playoff drought last season, the longest running streak for missing the playoffs in North American sports (a title the New York Jets have now inherited, as a Jets fan, I have an idea how Kings fans have felt.)
For the first time since Rick Adelman was around the franchise, there is reason for hope and optimism. Just remember all of this when you read and remember all the misery your fans have gone through.
Let me take a trip down memory lane
The one thing that might scare Kings fans about their current optimism is the past. Back in 2010, there was reason to believe that things might be looking up for Sacramento. Tyreke Evans had just finished his rookie of the year campaign, winning the award over elite players like Steph Curry, James Harden (who wasn’t even close to winning) and DeMar DeRozan (maybe calling him elite is a stretch, but I’m a Raptors fan, let me indulge a little.)
Evans’ numbers for his rookie season? 20 points per game to go with 5 rebounds and 6 assists. For good measure, he also nabbed 1.5 steals per game. His true shooting percentage was 52.9%, he contributed 5.4-win shares and his PER was a stellar 18.2. All this as a 20-year old.
By comparison, LeBron James as rookie had put up 21 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 6 assists. He had 1.6 steals per game and averaged a few more turnovers than Evans. James’s true shooting percentage was 48.8%, he contributed 5.1-win shares and posted an 18.3 PER. Astoundingly similar, right?
Now, to be clear, even after Evans’ spectacular rookie campaign, no one thought he was going to morph into the potential GOAT basketball player. However, his numbers matched with his athleticism and room for growth on the skill side seemed to indicate he was on a trajectory to become a perennial All-NBA talent.
Kings fans know how this played out. Evans never-again topped 20 points per game in his career. His efficiency declined across the board. He struggled with nagging injuries that kept him out of dozens of games every season.
The biggest issue is that Evans came in as an elite NBA athlete whose skills were still raw. Because he was such a physical force, he wasn’t originally held back by his lack of (relative) skills. Then he started suffering injury woes and that sapped some of his athleticism. As he was slowing down faster than expected, his skills hadn’t developed like they should have. The more his physical abilities waned, the less he could compensate for his skills not being up to par.
In essence, Evans became a player whose floor was always going to be very high. At no point during his Kings tenure was Evans not a contributing NBA player. It’s just that his ceiling, once believed to be limitless, turned out to be far lower than expected.
After four seasons of Evans, the Kings had seen enough. Not once had they even topped 30-wins with Evans around. The franchise needed a change. He was sent away to New Orleans in a three-team trade that brought Greivis Vasquez to Sacramento. But the real change the Kings were hoping for was from within.
Back in the 2010 NBA draft, Sacramento had drafted DeMarcus Cousins. The big man was highly touted throughout high school and didn’t disappoint during his one year at Kentucky. There, he formed a super-team with a bunch of talented players, including 2010 first-overall selection John Wall. Cousins had slipped down to the 5th spot where Sacramento was drafting. He had top-three talent, no doubt about it, but there were worries about his attitude. Still, it felt like a no-brainer for the Kings who above all else, needed talent.
As Cousins eased into the NBA, it became clear that his talents were the real-deal. Co-existing with Evans was uneasy because they both needed the basketball to make the most of their abilities. Cousins showed deft touch from the paint, both as a scorer and a passer. The Kings’ history was littered with passing big-men like Vlade Divac, Chris Webber and even Brad Miller. Cousins seemed to be the next in line to take the mantle.
So, the Evans trade wasn’t necessarily to acquire the most talent in return. It was more to signify that Cousins was now the locker-room leader and that this was his team. And in terms of numbers, he responded in kind. He turned into a consistent all-star who could sleepwalk his way to 25 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists every night.
But the wins still weren’t coming through. They topped 30 wins a few times, barely, but the playoffs were never near. The Kings tried matching Cousins with several sidekicks. After Evans’ departure, it seemed like the diminutive Isaiah Thomas would fill in the gaps. Thomas was a bucket but he was kind of a major issue defensively. Cousins, not known for his own defensive prowess, made for a bad match with him on that end of the court.
They went out and acquired Rudy Gay from the Raptors for several role players. That seemed like a nice scoring punch to add to Cousins’ side. Unfortunately, Kings fans soon found out what Grizzlies and Raptors fans already knew, Gay’s game simply wasn’t conducive to winning games.
Ben McLemore, the 7th selection in the 2011 NBA draft, was supposed to become a big-time NBA scorer who could stretch the floor with his three-point shot. That didn’t materialize whatsoever.
Then the Kings brought in former-Boston all-star point guard Rajon Rondo. He was a pure passer who knew how to create points for his teammates, that should work well with Cousins, right? Well, it turns out that while Rondo is a great playmaker, his style of creating for others means he ends up holding the ball a lot during games. That took the ball out of Cousins’ hands, which was the opposite of what the Kings needed.
In fact, the steadiest teammate Cousins probably had during his Kings tenure was Darren Collison. Not often heralded and often considered replaceable (see: acquiring Rajon Rondo), Collison knew his role. He played good defense. Got the ball moving quickly and knocked down his shots at a good clip. All while never complaining about being overlooked by his more famous teammates.
By the 2016–17 season, the Kings still hadn’t come close to making the playoffs. Their best season in the Cousins era was the year prior when they won all of… 33 games. It became clear like Evans before, Cousins was not enough to be the answer. So the Kings needed to hit reset yet again.
They did so in spectacularly questionable fashion. First, they decided to trade Cousins during the all-star game, which Cousins was attending. Not during all-star weekend, no, literally during the game. They had even said in the week leading up to the event that there way “no way” Cousins would be dealt that season. But he was, and Cousins found out about it in front of the media post-game.
Then, you have to consider the package they went out and got. The primary piece coming back was rookie Buddy Hield. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive was enamored with Hield, a huge star in college basketball, and believed him to have Steph Curry-like potential. On paper, that sounds good right? Steph Curry had already turned into one of the best players in the league by that point. Getting someone with similar talents as a rookie, you take that every time!
But then you consider the facts at hand. Buddy Hield was a four-year college player who arrived to the NBA as a 24-year-old. DeMarcus Cousins, who Sacramento was now deciding they needed to move on from to start a youth movement, was 26-years-old. Was that two-year gap really going to change anything in the long run?
Finally, you also consider that the Kings’ GM and once legendary player Vlade Divac, was out admitting to the media that they swung on the Buddy Hield deal because they already had better offers they had missed out on and feared that happening some more.
“When you make a deal, you want to get the most. Right now was the best time and it was the best offer we had. Most likely we would get less, because I had a better deal two days ago.”
Listen, while this is true, GMs of professional basketball franchises should not go around saying it aloud to the media. Kings basketball baby!
Oh, and a fun little wrinkle in the trade, another player who was sent to Sacramento in the trade? Once prince who was promised Tyreke Evans. There was no #thereturn marketing campaign for Tyreke.
The uproar from the public was bad. For a much-troubled franchise, Cousins had always been adamant that he was happy about being in Sacramento. He was beloved by the community for his efforts in the city and truly seemed to love being a King. That in itself was a rarity in the NBA.
But Divac doubled down on the move,
“I believe we are going to be in a better position in two years. I want to hear again from these same people in two years. If I’m right, great. If I’m wrong, I’ll step down. But if I go down, I’m going down my way.”
Spoiler alert: he was wrong. And he did step down, three years after the Hield trade. Vlade Divac: a man somewhat of his word?
Of course, Divac didn’t step down soon enough. Because he was still around in 2018 when, presented with the chance to draft Luka Doncic, or even Trae Young, Divac opted to select Marvin Bagley. Hey, when you get the chance to draft a guy with low-motor whose dad is also loud and boorish over two perennial all-stars, you just have to do it.
The Buddy Hield “era” if we can call it that was DOA. If Hield had one comparable skill to Curry, it was his ability to make deep shots at an efficient clip. But Hield didn’t have the ball-handling skills. He couldn’t consistently create his own shot like Curry did. He wasn’t out there making his teammates better, in fact Hield had to rely on his teammates in order to contribute. Where Vivek saw a star in the making, everyone else correctly saw a talented role player.
One of the worst moments in recent Kings history had to be in 2018–19 when they finished 9th in an 8 team race for the playoffs. At 39–43, they finished a whopping 9 games behind the 8th seeded Los Angeles Clippers. It would be just like the Kings to experience their most success in a season where they were still no threat to actually make anything happen.
That said, Kings fans weren’t too sad because they didn’t have their first round selection that year. They had traded it to Philadelphia for the pick that would eventually start their hopeful franchise turnaround.
That pick ended up being De’Aaron Fox. Let’s go ahead and forget that the pick they sent in that very same trade ended up being Jayson Tatum, beggars can’t be choosers, and with Fox, Sacramento seems like they finally found their guy.
It took a while for him to reach his potential, but the Fox experience seems to be kicking into high-gear. He’s an incredibly fast athlete whose playmaking abilities are among the best in the league. Catch him going downhill and it’s game over for you because he’s going to do what he wants. Fox seems to be improving as a three-point shooter which would be the last thing left to unlock his game fully.
To pair Fox with another star, it took a much-maligned trade. The Kings had what looked like an all-star backcourt in Fox and promising youngster Tyrese Haliburton but midway through Haliburton’s sophomore season, he was shipped to Indiana for Domantas Sabonis. The reaction among the public was the same as it had been for the Cousins trade, open ridicule. Have a look at the Reddit thread announcing the trade:
But this wasn’t your slightly older brother’s Sacramento Kings. Vlade Divac was not walking through that door. Monte McNair was now at the helm and had experience being part of a successful franchise in Houston. He had a proven track record in helping build good NBA teams.
And what he saw in Haliburton was a fantastic player who just didn’t fit with Fox already on the roster. Sabonis though? He was the perfect player to pair with his young guard. Like his father before him, Sabonis knew how to operate from the post and distribute the ball. He was also an obscenely efficient scorer, posting a true shooting percentage in the .600s for multiple seasons.
In their first-full season post-Sabonis trade, the Kings found their form. Sabonis and Fox both submitted All-NBA seasons, quickly finding great chemistry on the floor. For the first time in forever, the Kings won over 40 games and getting close to 50 with 48. That was enough to place 3rd in the western conference and win the Pacific Division outright.
The playoffs did not go as the Kings would have wanted. They matched up with the Golden State Warriors, Sabonis got his chest stomped on and Sacramento fell victim to a classic Steph Curry performance in the decisive 7th game of the series. But still, it didn’t matter. The Sacramento Kings were back in the NBA playoffs for the first time in 17 years!
This is a franchise that very nearly lost its city to relocation across multiple years. Once owned by the Maloof family, the Kings spent much of the late 00s and early 10s in limbo as the team was constantly rumored to be on their way out.
In 2011, it was a potential move to Anaheim. All that was left was the Maloofs making their case with the Board of Governors. The only thing that saved the Kings was a last-minute potential buyer and Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson (former NBA great and all-around terrible human being) pledging money from local businesses.
In 2012, the Kings looked like they were going to get some security when a new potential arena was pitched. The city was going to pay $250 million and the Maloofs would contribute $75 million. Even though it’s absurd to ask citizens to pay for arenas that will be used for a billionaire’s purpose, the Sacramento fans were so loyal that they easily approved this deal. At which point the Maloofs backed out.
For years the Maloofs were complaining that the team needed a new arena. That was one of the purported reasons for trying to sell the team. Now that there was an actual deal in place to build one, the Maloofs suddenly had cold feet.
“It’s less money. There’s less pressure on everybody,” Maloof told the Sacramento Bee. “Why don’t we look at redoing Power Balance? Most of our customers enjoy going to Power Balance. … It just seems more natural.”
Scumbags. That’s all they were.
In 2013 came the time where the Kings truly looked on the way out. A group led by Chris Hansen (not the “have a seat guy”) and Steve Ballmer were looking to buy the franchise and move them back to Seattle and restore the SuperSonics. The deal was all but approved by Board of Governors when noted pedophile Kevin Johnson (too bad it wasn’t that Chris Hansen) came up with another group of potential owners.
This time, Johnson’s people had deep pockets. The main buyer in the proposed Sacramento party was Vivek Ranadive. That group offered to match the Seattle-led group’s offer that was earmarked around $350 million. Because the Maloofs are scumbags, they weren’t open to selling to any Sacramento-based group but when the NBA owners voted 22–8 to reject the proposed Kings relocation to Seattle, they had no choice.
Let me say this about Sacramento and its fans: they’ve been through hell and back. They deserved that security and knowledge that they will remain in the city for the long-term. Just look at the sign-off the broadcast had when they thought for sure they were leaving town for good:
If Sacramento Kings basketball is truly back, it will only mean good things for the NBA.
He played for that team?
Contenders: Jabari Parker, Trevor Ariza, Zach Randolph, Vince Carter
Andre Miller, 2014–15
Jabari Parker played a total of 9 games across two seasons for the Kings. As expected, he dealt with injury issues and never had any impact. Trevor Ariza signed a contract in 2019–20 with the Kings only to be dealt in January, spending less than half a season with them. As for Vince Carter and Zach Randolph, they represent aging all-stars getting checks at the end of their careers. A less mentioned sad Kings moment is a washed, 36-year-old Randolph leading the 2017–18 Kings in points per game. Vince was on the very same team and averaged 5.4 points per game, acting mostly as veteran presence off the bench. Or as it’s known in Florida, “Haslem-ing.”
One of the most underrated players of his generation, Andre Miller was on a lot of teams during his NBA career. 9 to be exact. The Kings being one of those franchises surprised me because I had no recollection of it. That’s because he ended up in Sacramento for half of a season after being traded away by Washington for Ramon Sessions.
To play for the Kings in 2015 was essentially to be anonymous. Especially for role players who weren’t going to put up a lot of big stats. Still, Andre Miller deserves your respect. Among NBA players never to be selected for an All-Star team, Miller is one of the best. He once led the league in assists per game. He was always a plus defender. He knew his role and never strayed away from it. Andre Miller always tried to help his team win by doing the right things. Except that time he got really mad at Blake Griffin.
By the time he got to Sacramento, Miller was pretty much winding down his NBA career. He wasn’t much of an effective player and didn’t provide any impact. Which is why he’s not remembered. But Miller deserves respect for managing to stick around the NBA for 17 years as an unathletic point guard. It takes real skill and guile to accomplish such a feat.
Biggest Draft Bust
Contenders: Thomas Robinson, Ben McLemore, Nik Stauskas, Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissière (draft day trade with Phoenix)
Marvin Bagley III, 2018 2nd overall pick
Oof Kings fans, look away. Choosing the Kings’ biggest draft bust of the era was extremely difficult. And not because Sacramento has been good at drafting.
Thomas Robinson was an obvious contender. He was picked 5th overall in 2012, one spot ahead of Damian Lillard and struggled so much that Kings management decided to trade him after only one season with the team. Robinson had obvious gifts. He was an incredible athlete who could explode at the rim and was known to get highlight real blocks. But he had bad basketball IQ, didn’t seem to understand positioning and jumped at every shot attempt hoping to get blocks. It didn’t help that he couldn’t really shoot the ball, thus couldn’t stretch the floor and minimize his lack of relative height at 6”8. He did have this insane block when he got to Portland though.
We covered McLemore quickly, but he just never did piece it together enough to become a productive NBA player.
Nik Stauskas will be mostly remembered for things that happened off the court. Like earning the nickname Sauce Castillo because of a closed captioning mistake, being traded twice in a matter of hours and getting cut by the end of it and of course, “Nik rocks!”
Similarly, Willie Cauley-Stein’s biggest impact was adding “Trill” as a middle name. Other than that, he arrived in the league having been on a Kentucky super-team that won the national championship (I honest to god believed he was going to be better than Karl-Antony Towns, I’m an idiot) and was probably a little too productive to be considered a full-fledged bust. Still, he was picked before his teammate Devin Booker and I’m sure Sacramento would like a re-do given the chance.
As for Skal Labissière, he comes from the long line of players who had massive potential due to their athleticism and perceived skillset but were coming into the league raw. Rarely does such a player develop in the way you want them to. For every Giannis Antetokounmpo, there’s a thousand Skal Labissières. As evidence of this, Labissière was traded on draft day from Phoenix to Sacramento for Marquese Chriss and they are essentially the same player.
But at the end of the day, when your team drafts a below-average, oft-injured player immediately before two consistent All-NBA talents, that has to be your marquee screw up. I’m not here to deny that Marvin Bagley was highly touted and had obvious potential. But there were a lot of red flags.
Firstly, the Kings had a lot of big men they were already planning on giving minutes to. Nemanja Bjelica, Kosta Koufos and Cauley-Stein were already “established” veterans. Labissière, Caleb Swanigan and fellow rookie Harry Giles were all promising prospects who needed to see the court to develop. How were the Kings going to figure out a rotation that gave all those pieces minutes?
Secondly, Bagley’s father was a known malcontent who lorded over his son’s career. While that shouldn’t stop people from getting the best players available, it is another element a team has to deal with when it comes to operating their franchise. This is the same dude who would go on to tweet “@SacramentoKings PLEASE trade Marvin Bagley III ASAP! Love- Coach Bagley.”
Thirdly, people in real-time were critical of this pick. The late great Jonathan Tjarks highlighted to positional log-jammed I mentioned above,
“Sacramento already has so many young big men (Willie Cauley-Stein, Skal Labissiere, and Harry Giles) that Bagley will likely start his career as an oversized 4.”
CBS worried about his positional fit and less than inspired defense (while also to be fair, praising his potential),
“He’s got the same potential of 2014 №1 pick Andrew Wiggins with more size and hustle. But the question is whether he can be a winning player, given his flaws on defense and unclear positional fit on that end.”
And SI got to the root of the issue in their assessment, mainly who was chosen after Bagley,
“Sacramento may come to rue passing on Doncic, the most accomplished international prospect ever to enter the draft, but Bagley will give them production early and still has room to grow as a scorer and on the defensive end. Bagley wasn’t the sexy pick, but as many around the league expected earlier in the week, the Kings ultimately stayed put.”
The fans, like the experts, were also upset with the Kings for drafting Bagley ahead of Luka Doncic (and Trae Young, but especially Doncic). So why did the Kings do it? There were two primary reasons. The first was fit. Yes, the Kings had a lot of big men, but management was worried that Fox and Doncic in the backcourt couldn’t work together because of their ball dominance.
The second reason was that Bagley was the only high-ranked prospect who wanted to even do a workout with the Kings. As a poverty franchise, there is always legitimate fear that a player will pull rank on the team and demand a trade. Especially in modern NBA times. The Kings couldn’t risk their second overall selection immediately refusing to play for their franchise and thus, Bagley was the “safe” choice.
Besides, it was reported that Vivek wanted Bagley and what Vivek wanted, he got. Much like Nik Rocks! While he may have saved the franchise, there is always some fear with an owner who likes to meddle and in his time as GM, Vivek has shown that he sure likes to meddle.
Safe to say, Bagley didn’t workout in Sacramento. His athleticism isn’t in question. He can score the basketball decently well. He can dribble and run the fast break both as a finisher and a table setter. But he lacks strength and is easily pushed around in the paint. As a lefty, his right hand is incredibly weak. He doesn’t seem to understand how to play off the ball, which as a big man, is something he does quite a lot. He takes way too many shots he shouldn’t take.
Defensively, he is very capable of being a plus defender. He has good size and combined with his jumping abilities; he could be a presence at the rim. But he’s often in the wrong spot, doesn’t read defenses very well and generally seems to be content just trying to block shots when they come near him.
Ironically, of the Kings’ draft busts from this era, Bagley is probably the most talented but given that he came after Doncic and Young, his lack of NBA success becomes far more egregious than the other “contenders” on this list.
Memorable Moment
This is easy: Light. The. Beam.
The Kings, as we’ve meticulously gone through in this post, were a tortured franchise for so long. When they announced that they were going to start having a beam shoot from the arena into the sky after every win prior to the 2022–23 NBA season, people made fun of them.
Then the team meshed together and started winning. Then they kept winning. They light the beam 48 times in the regular season and three more times in the playoffs. People who were once making fun of the Kings were jumping on the bandwagon and getting excited about the beam. It became kind of a movement.
Of course, the beam is just a silly little thing that the team does to celebrate wins. Plenty of teams do these kinds of things after victories. But it became a symbol for Sacramento that these were not the Kings of the past. They were shedding their loser image and turning into winners before everyone’s eyes. People loved the beam because they knew that every time that light was lit, it was one step closer to fully escaping the NBA’s basement.
I don’t think that light the beam can work as a full-time post-victory thing. People are going to tire of it and the more the Kings win, the less special it will feel. Especially if they encounter more playoff struggles. But for this one magical season, it hit the right spot. Peaking, in my opinion, when De’Aaron fox got to light the beam after their first playoff win in almost two decades.
It’s been a rough road Kings fans, but you got through it.
