Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings carry one of the NBA's most storied and nomadic histories, tracing their roots to 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams before becoming the Rochester Royals in 1945. The Royals won an NBA championship in 1951, defeating the New York Knicks in seven games. After the Royals era, the franchise moved to Cincinnati in 1957, where Oscar Robertson — the Big O — redefined what a point guard could be, averaging a historic triple-double over an entire season in 1961-62. The team moved to Kansas City in 1972 before relocating to Sacramento in 1985, where it found one of the most passionate fanbases in professional sports. The early 2000s Kings — featuring Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Mike Bibby, and Chris Webber — played run-and-gun basketball that captured a nation's imagination. The 2001-02 Kings won 61 games and pushed the Lakers to seven games in a legendary Western Conference Finals. A prolonged rebuild followed before De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis ended a 16-year playoff drought in 2023. Fox was subsequently traded to San Antonio, and the Kings have reshaped around Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Russell Westbrook under head coach Doug Christie — a Sacramento-born legend returning to lead the team he once helped define.