The Basketball Fans

Sacramento Kings

Published April 18, 2026 · Updated April 23, 2026 · By The Basketball Fans Editors

Editorial tile: Sacramento Kings
Photo via Unsplash. Unsplash License.

The Sacramento Kings are, by continuous corporate lineage, the oldest professional basketball franchise in the United States. The franchise traces to 1923 in Rochester, New York, as the Rochester Seagrams, a traveling barnstorming team. They became the Rochester Royals, joined the National Basketball League in 1945, joined the NBA in the 1949 BAA-NBL merger, and won the 1951 NBA championship as the Rochester Royals. They have not won another championship. They have relocated four times: Rochester to Cincinnati (1957), to Kansas City/Omaha (1972), to Kansas City alone (1975), and to Sacramento (1985). The franchise’s defining modern event is the disputed 2002 Western Conference Finals Game 6 against the Lakers, in which multiple questionable officiating calls preceded a Kings Game 7 loss that former referee Tim Donaghy later alleged had been fixed. Current ownership is Vivek Ranadivé, who purchased the franchise in 2013 for $535 million.

Golden 1 Center in Sacramento
Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento, the Kings' home since 2016. The building was a publicly-backed replacement for Sleep Train Arena and was part of the 2013 anti-Seattle-relocation package. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

The Rochester Royals and the 1951 championship

The Rochester Royals were a dominant late-1940s and early-1950s team. The 1950–51 Royals, coached by Les Harrison with center Arnie Risen and guards Bob Davies and Bobby Wanzer, went 41–27 in the regular season. They beat Fort Wayne in the first round, Minneapolis in the conference finals (four games to three), and the New York Knicks 4–3 in the NBA Finals. Game 7 was played in Rochester on April 21, 1951. Risen was the Finals leading scorer.

Six Rochester-era Royals are in the Hall of Fame: Bob Davies, Bobby Wanzer, Arnie Risen, Al Cervi, Les Harrison, and Jack Twyman. The Rochester era is the only championship-era phase in the franchise’s one-hundred-year history.

The Cincinnati Royals (1957–1972) and Oscar Robertson

The Royals relocated to Cincinnati in 1957 due to declining Rochester attendance. The Cincinnati Royals played at Cincinnati Gardens. The franchise won the territorial draft pick to Oscar Robertson in 1960 (Robertson had gone to the University of Cincinnati). Robertson averaged a triple-double across the 1961–62 season (30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 11.4 assists per game), the only player to do so in a full season until Russell Westbrook matched it in 2016–17.

The Cincinnati Royals never reached the NBA Finals. They reached the Eastern Division Finals twice (1963 and 1964) and lost both times. Robertson was traded to Milwaukee on April 21, 1970. His full story is here.

Kansas City-Omaha (1972–1985) and the Sacramento relocation

The Royals relocated to Kansas City in 1972 and became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, splitting home games between the two cities through 1975. The franchise took the full Kansas City-only name “Kansas City Kings” in 1975. The Kansas City era produced one Western Conference Finals appearance (1981), losing to Houston.

In 1985, owner Gregg Lukenbill relocated the franchise to Sacramento. The move was driven by Sacramento’s offer to build the ARCO Arena. The Kings became the first major professional sports franchise in Sacramento. The ARCO Arena opened in 1988 (the second of its name; the first opened in 1985 was a temporary 10,333-seat venue).

The early Sacramento years (1985–1998)

The early Sacramento Kings were mediocre-to-poor, making the playoffs four times across thirteen seasons. Mitch Richmond, acquired from Golden State in 1991 for Billy Owens, was the franchise’s only sustained star of the era. He was an All-Star six times in Sacramento.

The Chris Webber era (1998–2005)

The Kings acquired Chris Webber from Washington in May 1998 for Mitch Richmond. Peja Stojaković was drafted 14th overall in 1996 and broke into the rotation in 1999. Mike Bibby was acquired from Vancouver in 2001. Vlade Divac came in 1998. Doug Christie in 2000. Head coach Rick Adelman was hired in 1998.

The 2001–02 Kings went 61–21, the franchise’s best regular season since the 1950s. They reached the Western Conference Finals against the two-time-defending-champion Lakers. Sacramento led 3–2 after Game 5 at home. Game 6 at Staples Center on May 31, 2002 produced 27 Lakers free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to the Kings’ 9. Multiple foul calls on Kings forward Vlade Divac were widely disputed. The Lakers won 106–102. Game 7 was in Sacramento; the Lakers won in overtime, 112–106. Los Angeles went on to win the 2002 championship.

In 2008, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, then convicted in a federal sports-gambling case, alleged in sworn filings that two referees had deliberately officiated Game 6 in favor of the Lakers. The NBA has consistently denied the allegation. The league’s investigation of Donaghy’s broader allegations found no corroborating evidence for the Game 6 claim. The 2002 Game 6 is, in most NBA-officiating retrospective analysis, the most-disputed refereed game in the modern era, without the dispute having been resolved.

The 16-year playoff drought (2006–2022)

The Kings missed the playoffs for sixteen consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2022, the longest active playoff drought in NBA history at the time. The franchise cycled through head coaches (Eric Musselman, Reggie Theus, Kenny Natt, Paul Westphal, Keith Smart, Michael Malone, Tyrone Corbin, George Karl, Dave Joerger, Luke Walton, Alvin Gentry, Mike Brown).

The 2012 Seattle-relocation attempt, led by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen, was blocked by the NBA in May 2013 in favor of a local Sacramento ownership group led by Vivek Ranadivé, who bought the Kings for $535 million. The Sacramento city council approved a public-financing package for a new downtown arena as part of the anti-relocation deal. Golden 1 Center opened in October 2016.

The 2022–23 playoff return

Head coach Mike Brown was hired in May 2022 from the Golden State assistant staff. The 2021–22 trade for Domantas Sabonis from Indiana (for Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson) gave the Kings a top-ten center. De’Aaron Fox, drafted fifth overall in 2017, was the team’s leading scorer. Kevin Huerter had been acquired in July 2022.

The 2022–23 Kings went 48–34, the playoff return. They lost to Golden State 4–3 in the first round. Mike Brown was named Coach of the Year. Sabonis was an All-NBA selection.

Current era

The 2023–24 Kings missed the playoffs at 46–36 (losing the play-in tournament). The 2024–25 Kings were a lottery team, fired Mike Brown in December 2024, and hired Doug Christie as interim head coach. The team has not returned to its 2022–23 level of play.

Ownership

Vivek Ranadivé purchased the Kings in 2013 for $535 million from the Maloof brothers. Ranadivé is the founder of TIBCO Software and was previously a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors. His net worth, per Forbes 2025, is approximately $800 million, which is unusually low for an NBA majority owner. Minority owners include Shaquille O’Neal (as of 2013). The Kings’ 2025 Forbes valuation was approximately $2.65 billion.

Retired numbers

Eleven jersey numbers have been retired across the franchise’s relocation eras:

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