The Sacramento Kings
In 1985 the National Basketball Association approved the move of what was the Kansas City Kings to Sacramento, where the team remains today. The 1985-86 NBA season was the Kings first season in Sacramento and the Kings rewarded local fans by earning a spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Since then, the Kings have been providing thrills to the loyal fans of Sacramento, with multiple playoff appearances, including a Western Conference Finals appearance when they faced off against the Los Angeles Lakers.
The 2002 Western Conference finals remains today one of the most controversial playoff series in NBA history. The Kings had moved easily through the first two playoff rounds, beating the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks, leading to a showdown against the Lakers. The Lakers won the hard fought series in seven games, but that was not the whole story.
The still infamous game 6 of the series was marred by a fourth quarter in which the Lakers were awarded a staggering 27 free throws. Many around the NBA had a hard time explaining the unprecedented number of foul calls against the Kings.
The disappointment of the 2002 playoff loss to the Lakers led to a painful period in which the Kings fell from the perch of NBA Championship contender to the NBA version of no man’s land. Good but not moving towards great.
In 2013 the Kings franchise was sold by the Maloof family to Silicon Valley Tech billionaire Vivek Ranadive. In 2015 an effort to recapture the magic of the Kings dominant teams of the early 2000’s, the Kings hired Vlade Divac as General Manager.
The Kings now play their home games in the new, state of the art Golden 1 Center located in Downtown Sacramento.
Images
Sacramento Kings - By Anonymous - Personal file sent to me, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87951339
The 2002 Western Conference finals remains today one of the most controversial playoff series in NBA history. The Kings had moved easily through the first two playoff rounds, beating the Utah Jazz and the Dallas Mavericks, leading to a showdown against the Lakers. The Lakers won the hard fought series in seven games, but that was not the whole story.
The still infamous game 6 of the series was marred by a fourth quarter in which the Lakers were awarded a staggering 27 free throws. Many around the NBA had a hard time explaining the unprecedented number of foul calls against the Kings.
The disappointment of the 2002 playoff loss to the Lakers led to a painful period in which the Kings fell from the perch of NBA Championship contender to the NBA version of no man’s land. Good but not moving towards great.
In 2013 the Kings franchise was sold by the Maloof family to Silicon Valley Tech billionaire Vivek Ranadive. In 2015 an effort to recapture the magic of the Kings dominant teams of the early 2000’s, the Kings hired Vlade Divac as General Manager.
The Kings now play their home games in the new, state of the art Golden 1 Center located in Downtown Sacramento.
Images
Sacramento Kings - By Anonymous - Personal file sent to me, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87951339