Sacramento Kings Tickets

About The Sacramento Kings

The Rochester Royals were led by players like Bob Davies, Al Cervi, George Glamack, and even Otto Graham (for a single season). The Royals started their history as champions of the NBL in the 1945-46 season and would not finish with a winning percentage below .600 until 1955. During those glory years the Royals moved form the NBL to the BAA to the NBA and won an NBA title in the process.

The team moved from Rochester, New York to Cincinnati in 1957, but did not have nearly the success as the team did in New York. Those early Cincinnati Royals clubs were led by Maurice Strokes and Jack Twyman. Strokes’ career was ended prematurely after a hard foul left him unable to care for himself. The Royals returned to competition with Oscar Robertson and Jerry Lucas. The two future hall of fame players consistently took the team to the playoffs, but could not bring them to the NBA Finals.

The move from Cincinnati to Kansas City following several sub par seasons led to a name change. Their was already a baseball team by the name of the Royals, so the team became the Kings. The Kansas City Kings were led by Nate Archibald. Archibald was a good half court player, but an excellent full court player. His unselfishness and scoring ability were not enough to carry the Kings into the playoffs consistently.

The Kings finally made strong push in the postseason in 1981. The team had unheralded players like Ernie Grunfeld, Reggie King, Otis Birdsong, Scott Wedman, and Sam Lacey played a slow offense that forced teams to grind out games and minimize mistakes. The Kings were able to reach the conference finals before the Houston Rockets put them away with their own powerful post play.

The Kansas City fans stopped paying attention as the team bottomed out, so the franchise moved to California and became the Sacramento Kings. The Kings suffered through tragedies that included a car accident that severely impaired the career of the promising Duke point guard and the suicide of Ricky Berry. The ‘80s and the ‘90s were a tough time to be a Sacramento Kings fan, but things would turn around in the 21st century.

In 1996 the Maloof Family took over as owner of the Sacramento Kings and began to turn things around. They started by drafting point guard Jason Williams, signing Vlade Divac, and trading Mitch Richmond for Chris Webber. Williams was a young exciting point guard who incredible passing ability left many fans astounded and frustrated many coaches, Divac was a solid passer and a good defensive presence in the middle, and Webber was a star whose career was maligned by a poor call he made in the NCAA championship game in 1993.

The Sacramento Kings then bolstered their roster when Peja Stojakovic finally arrived from Europe after being drafted in 1996. The team used a version of the Princeton offense with an emphasis on movement without the ball and passing from the high post. The Kings became contenders in 200 and had a run of five seasons of competitive play. The change from Jason Williams at point to Mike Bibby in the 2001 offseason helped cut down on the mistakes that had ended their runs before. The Kings came closest that first season with Bibby, when they met the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. The series went the full seven games and was not without controversy, but ended in the defeat of the Sacramento Kings.

After 2005, the Kings time had passed. The team was a shadow of their former selves, Divac had given way to Brad Miller and Webber was traded away. The team stayed competitive, but Ron Artest became the centerpiece of the club and team eventually faded out of the playoffs after the 2006 postseason.