The oldest franchise in the NBA has won a title and a league-best 61 games, and it has also gone through 16 straight losing seasons. Tonight's host is 1-6 and facing a 6-2 Lakers team, and the numbers say the gap is in the defense.
1950-51
On November 4, 1950, the Rochester Royals won 95-71. The next spring they beat the New York Knicks 4-3 for the franchise's only NBA championship. Their chief rival in that stretch was the Minneapolis Lakers, led by George Mikan. A Lakers game on this date has a long history in this franchise's story.
1961-62
Money trouble in small-market Rochester forced a move to Cincinnati in 1957. The Royals drafted Oscar Robertson in 1960, and he averaged a triple-double in 1961-62 and won the MVP award in 1964. He was traded to Milwaukee in 1970, and the franchise left Cincinnati two years later. Stars arrived and left, and the team kept moving.
2001-02
Sacramento's best run peaked in 2001-02 with the league's best record, 61-21. The Kings beat the Spurs 103-83 on November 4, 2001. Then the slide began: from 2006 to 2022 they posted 16 consecutive losing seasons, the most in NBA history, and the playoff drought lasted until 2023.
Last season
Doug Christie's team went 22-60, 26th in offense and 28th in defense, with a minus-9.7 net mark that was 28th of 30 teams. This year's group was supposed to show that was a bottom. Domantas Sabonis, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray and De'Andre Hunter all return, and Darius Acuff Jr. arrives as a rookie.
Tonight
Seven games in, the Kings are 1-6 and 14th, four games behind sixth place and 2.5 behind tenth. They score 106.8 points per 100 possessions and allow 120.0. The Lakers are 6-2, with Luka Doncic at 38.3 points a night over seven games, and beat Sacramento 127-103 and 114-110 in early October. Murray and Maxime Raynaud remain out.
What is the Kings' record this season?
The Kings are 1-6 after beating the Mavericks 115-100 on November 2, their first win. They sit 14th, four games behind sixth place.
When did the Kings win an NBA championship?
The franchise won its only NBA title in 1951, when the Rochester Royals beat the New York Knicks 4-3. The Kings have not won one since moving to Sacramento.
