The Sacramento Kings is a professional basketball team in the NBA.
They are based in Sacramento, California which is also a part of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Their home arena is the Power Balance Pavilion. The Kings were the former team of some NBA stars and Hall of Famers like Chris Webber, Peja Stojakovic, Nate Archibald, Oscar Robertson, Vlade Divac and Mitch Richmond.
Franchise History – Early Years
The franchise trace their origins since the early 1920’s in a local semi-professional team based in Rochester, New York making them one of the oldest basketball club still in existence. The team started in National Basketball League in 1945 as the Rochester Royals and later on part of their successor league, the NBA in 1949.
In 1957, the Royals transferred to Cincinnati Ohio by the Harrison brothers. In their first draft in the NBA, they drafted Clyde Lovelette and George King. They ended the season second place in the Western Division in the 1957-58 season’s second half. Maurice Stokes fell hard in a game in the season’s finale. After the game one of the playoffs, the airplane pressure had aggravated the head injury of Stokes.
He had a seizure and was permanently hospitalized. He played the guard, forward and center position, leading as the 2nd in the NBA in rebounds and 3rd in assists, which has only matched by Wilt Chamberlain. Twyman had improved into a All-star level and was shooting often for the team.
He was the 2nd player in the NBA to average 30 points per game in a full season. In 1960, they acquired Oscar Robertson. Robertson along with Twyman, Wayne Embry, Bob Boozer, Bucky Bockhorn, Tom Hawkins and Adrian Smith led the team for the next three seasons. With a deep roster, they rose to be a title contender.
In 1963, Jerry Lucas was acquired by the team. They had the 2nd best record in the league. From the years 1963 to 1966, they maintained as a contender but always falling short for an NBA Title.
Robertson averaged triple-double in the 1961-62 and was named the MVP for the season. He lead the league in scoring and assists. Jerry Lucas was the Rookie of the Year in 1964 who later on averaged 20 rebounds per games for three seasons.
In 1969, they hired Bob Cousy to be the head coach and traded Lucas. Robertson was also traded in Milwaukee in 1970 where he had won his first NBA Title.
They transferred in Kansas City and renamed to Kings due to their baseball team named as Royals. The Kings had Tom Van Arsdale, Johnny Green and Matt Guokas who helped Archibald in the first year in Kansas City. Jimmy Walker teamed up with Archibald as the team advanced to the postseason the second year. Despite Archibald leading the league in scoring, they traded him.
They found success when they hired Cotton Fitzsimmons as their head coach. They won the Midwest Division, and made a surprise run in the playoffs as they reached the Western Conference Finals. Their building on success was prevented because of many unfortunate incidents. Later on in their final season in 1984-85, they had an embarrassing record of 31-51.