58 Fun Facts About Sacramento Kings

What is the name of the Kings' downtown Sacramento arena, opened in 2016?

Golden 1 Center runs entirely on solar power, some of it from panels on its own roof, which helped make it the first indoor sports venue to earn the top LEED Platinum green rating.

The Kings franchise began as the Royals in which New York city?

Rochester: the Royals won a league title in their very first season there, but the NBA outgrew so small a market and the club left for the much larger Cincinnati in 1957.

Which Canadian distiller gave its name to the semi-professional club that preceded the Royals?

Seagram put its name on the semi-pro club where Les Harrison played and later coached; in 1945 he and his brother launched the professional Royals in its place.

Which team did the Royals beat in the 1951 NBA Finals?

New York Knicks: the Royals won the first three games, lost the next three, then took Game 7 by four points, 79–75, for the only championship the franchise has won.

Which guard on the Royals' 1951 title team later coached two NBA championship teams?

Red Holzman played eight seasons for the Royals, then coached New York to the 1970 and 1973 titles, making him one of the few men with NBA rings as both a player and a coach.

Which Royals star, a namesake of the NBA's Teammate of the Year award, was paralysed after a fall in 1958?

Maurice Stokes hit his head in the season finale and fell gravely ill on a team flight three days later; teammate Jack Twyman became his legal guardian and raised money for his care until Stokes died in 1970.

Which local superstar joined the Cincinnati Royals in 1960 and averaged a triple-double in 1961–62?

Oscar Robertson came as a 'territorial pick': the NBA then let a team give up its first-round choice to claim a college star from its own area, and he had starred at the University of Cincinnati.

Which Celtics great coached the Royals from 1969 as both of their biggest stars were traded away?

Bob Cousy stayed through the 1972 move and into the Kansas City years, and at 41 he even put himself back on the court for seven games in his first season in charge.

Why did the Royals become the Kings in 1972?

A local baseball team already used the name: Kansas City's Royals had begun play only three years earlier, so the NBA arrivals took the nearest regal alternative and became the Kings.

With which Nebraska city did the Kings share their home games from 1972 to 1975?

Omaha: the club was the Kansas City–Omaha Kings for three seasons, then settled into Kansas City's new Kemper Arena and cut the second city from its name in 1975.

Which point guard led the NBA in scoring and assists in 1972–73, the Kings' first Kansas City season?

Nate Archibald, 'Tiny', averaged 34.0 points and 11.4 assists, the first player to top the NBA in both per game in one season, yet the 36–46 Kings still missed the playoffs.

Which guard from the Kings' first Sacramento team returned as their head coach in 2007?

Reggie Theus led the 1985–86 Kings in assists and nearly in scoring; as coach he won 38 games in his first season but was fired 24 games into his second.

Which North Carolina point guard won 1979 Rookie of the Year with the Kings?

Phil Ford, the second overall pick, averaged 15.9 points and 8.6 assists and made an All-NBA team as a rookie, as the Kings jumped from 31 wins to 48.

Which Moses Malone-led team beat the Kings in the 1981 West finals, a meeting of two 40–42 clubs?

Houston Rockets: the Kings had stunned the top-seeded Phoenix Suns in a seventh game to get there, but they had no answer for Malone and went out in five.

Why did the Kings spend most of 1979–80 away from Kemper Arena?

The roof collapsed in a storm on 4 June 1979, a day after America's architects had gathered in Kansas City for a convention; three years earlier they had given the arena a national honour award.

Which Kings guard won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award in 2003?

Bobby Jackson had climbed the ballot a step at a time, fourth in 2001 and second in 2002, before winning it with 15.2 points a game off the Kings' bench.

What was the name of the Kings' WNBA sister team, league champions in 2005?

Monarchs: one of the WNBA's eight original teams, they won the 2005 title and reached the finals again in 2006, yet the club was shut down just three years later.

Which oil company's name was on the Kings' first two Sacramento arenas?

ARCO first put its name on a 10,333-seat temporary arena thrown up for the Kings' arrival in 1985; the team outgrew it in three seasons and moved to a far larger ARCO Arena.

Which NBA legend coached the Kings in 1987–88, early in the Sacramento era?

Bill Russell, an 11-time champion as a Celtics center, lasted only 58 games on the Kings' bench, going 17–41 before Jerry Reynolds took over.

Which Louisville centre did the Kings take first overall in the 1989 draft?

Pervis Ellison had been 'Never Nervous Pervis' in college, but injuries cost him 48 games as a rookie, earned him the nickname 'Out of Service Pervis' and got him traded after one season.

The 1990–91 Kings won 24 games at home; how many of their 41 road games did they win?

1: the single road win came at Washington in November, and the Kings lost every away game after it, 37 in a row, to finish 1–40 on the road, the worst mark in NBA history.

Which shooting guard, acquired from Golden State in 1991, made six All-Star teams with the Kings?

Mitch Richmond, who cost the Kings rookie Billy Owens, led them in scoring in all seven of his seasons and was the 1995 All-Star Game MVP, yet they made the playoffs only once in that time.

Whom did the Kings receive from Washington in the May 1998 trade of their six-time All-Star guard?

Chris Webber led the NBA in rebounding in his first season, and the Kings, losers in each of their first 13 years in Sacramento, began a run of eight straight playoff trips.

Which flashy point guard, drafted in 1998, thrilled fans with his passing before being traded for Mike Bibby?

Jason Williams, 'White Chocolate', was the seventh pick in 1998 and an All-Rookie First Team choice; traded to the Grizzlies in 2001, he went on to win the 2006 title as Miami's starting point guard.

Which Hall of Fame college coach became a Kings assistant in 1996, bringing his cutting, passing offense?

Pete Carril arrived after three decades at Princeton, and his 'Princeton offense', built on constant cutting and passing, became the trademark of the early-2000s Kings.

What was the title of the February 2001 Sports Illustrated cover story on the Kings?

The Greatest Show on Court: the magazine put the team on its cover, and the Kings lived up to it, winning 55 games and, that spring, their first playoff series in 20 years.

Who coached the 61-win Kings of 2001–02?

Rick Adelman took the Kings to the playoffs in all eight of his seasons; they let him go in 2006 and did not get back to the postseason until 2023.

Which team shot 27 fourth-quarter free throws in Game 6 of the 2002 West finals?

Los Angeles Lakers: they had averaged 22 free throws a game in the series before taking 27 in that one quarter, won 106–102 and then took Game 7 in overtime in Sacramento.

Which team, led by that season's MVP, eliminated the Kings in the 2004 West semifinals?

Minnesota Timberwolves: Kevin Garnett marked his 28th birthday with 32 points and 21 rebounds in Game 7, an 83–80 win that put Minnesota in its first conference final.

Which volatile forward did the Kings acquire from Indiana in 2006 in exchange for Peja Stojaković?

Ron Artest arrived from Indiana that January and the Kings finished 44–38 to reach the playoffs, which they would not see again until 2023.

How many consecutive losing seasons, an NBA record, did the Kings suffer before 2022–23?

16: every season from 2006–07 to 2021–22 ended below .500 and without a playoff place, the longest postseason drought the NBA has seen, until a 48–34 team ended both runs at once.

Who was the first Sacramento-era King to win Rookie of the Year, in 2010?

Tyreke Evans, the fourth pick in 2009, averaged 20.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.8 assists and won the vote ahead of a fellow rookie guard named Stephen Curry.

To which Southern California city did the Maloof family try to move the Kings in 2011?

Anaheim: an attorney for the owners even filed to trademark the name 'Anaheim Royals' that March, yet the Kings stayed in Sacramento and never left.

Which 5-foot-9 guard, taken with the 60th and final pick in 2011, made the All-Rookie team for the Kings?

Isaiah Thomas, the very last pick of the 2011 draft, made the All-Rookie Second Team in Sacramento; five seasons later, in Boston, he averaged 28.9 points and finished fifth in the MVP vote.

Which tech entrepreneur led the 2013 purchase of the Kings, keeping them out of Seattle?

Vivek Ranadivé, founder of the software firm TIBCO, fronted the local bid; NBA owners voted 22–8 against a richer offer from Chris Hansen, who planned to move the team to Seattle and revive the SuperSonics name.

Which retired NBA superstar bought a minority stake in the Kings in 2013?

Shaquille O'Neal had mocked the team as the 'Sacramento Queens' during his playing days, then bought a small stake in September 2013 as part of the new owners' makeover.

The Kings' 2015 salary-dump trade with Philadelphia eventually gave the 76ers assets to draft which No. 1 pick?

Markelle Fultz: the 2017 pick swap from that deal moved Philadelphia up to third, and the 76ers packaged that pick to Boston for the No. 1 choice, using it on Fultz.

Whom did the Kings draft in 2018 with the second overall pick, passing on Luka Dončić?

Marvin Bagley III, the Duke forward, went second in 2018; Luka Dončić was taken third and became an All-NBA star in Dallas while injuries limited Bagley's Kings career.

Which Kings executive was found to have stolen $13.4 million of sponsorship money over four years?

The chief revenue officer, Jeff David, had just left for the same job at the Miami Heat when a former colleague sorting through his old files found the paper trail.

Which young guard did the Kings trade to Indiana in February 2022 for Domantas Sabonis?

Tyrese Haliburton, the 12th pick in 2020, went to Indiana with Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson for Domantas Sabonis; he became an All-NBA guard with the Pacers while Sabonis made All-NBA in Sacramento.

Which team did the Kings beat 176–175 in double overtime in February 2023?

Los Angeles Clippers: Kawhi Leonard scored 44 for the home side and still lost, in a game whose 351 points trailed only a triple-overtime 186–184 meeting in 1983.

Which coach won 2023 Coach of the Year with the Kings, then was fired in 2024?

Mike Brown was the first coach ever to win the award by a unanimous vote, after ending the NBA's longest playoff drought, yet the Kings fired him less than two years later with the team 13–18.

What do the Kings light above their arena after every win, inspiring a crowd chant?

A purple beam: six lasers, two each of red, green and blue, merge into a single purple shaft, and the fans' chant of 'Light the Beam' became the anthem of the 2022–23 season.

To which team did the Kings trade De'Aaron Fox in February 2025?

San Antonio Spurs: the three-team deal sent Zach LaVine from Chicago to Sacramento, and six months later Fox signed a long-term extension to stay in San Antonio.

What is the name of the Kings' lion mascot, introduced in 1997–98?

Slamson arrived in the fall of 1997; the club's tongue-in-cheek biography gives his birthplace as Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater and says Kings scouts found him napping under a tree in Old Sacramento.

Which centre joined the Kings as a free agent in 1999 and returned in 2015 to run their front office?

Vlade Divac's first NBA team had traded him in 1996 for the draft rights to a 17-year-old guard who became an all-time great; in Sacramento he made an All-Star team and had his No. 21 retired.

Which company became the Kings' jersey patch sponsor in 2017–18?

Blue Diamond Growers, a Sacramento almond growers' cooperative founded in 1910, signed up in October 2016, a full year before the first sponsor patches appeared on NBA jerseys.

Which nickname appears on several Kings 'City' uniforms in place of the team name?

Sactown replaced a lion's head on the chest of the 'City' uniform in 2018–19 and stayed for the next three designs, including a red version a year later.

Which George Mikan team did the Royals beat on the way to their 1951 title?

Minneapolis Lakers: Mikan's team won five titles in six seasons, and the one that got away was 1951, when the Royals beat them 3–1 in the division finals.

Which two Kings each topped 40 points in a 176–175 double-overtime win in 2023?

Malik Monk and De'Aaron Fox: Monk, a reserve that night, outscored everyone on the floor with a career-high 45, while Fox added 42.

Which team beat the Kings in Game 7 of the 2023 first round, their first playoff series since 2006?

Golden State Warriors: Stephen Curry scored 50 in Sacramento, the first 50-point Game 7 the NBA had seen, and the defending champions went through 4–3.

To which team did the Kings trade DeMarcus Cousins in February 2017?

New Orleans Pelicans: the trade came a day after Cousins played in the 2017 All-Star Game, which was held in New Orleans, so his new team turned out to be the game's host.

Which Kings general manager assembled the 1998-99 core and twice won NBA Executive of the Year?

Geoff Petrie had shared the NBA's Rookie of the Year award as a Portland guard in 1971; three decades on he won Executive of the Year in 1999 and 2001 for building the Kings' contenders.

Whom did DeMarcus Cousins replace as a 2015 All-Star, ending an 11-year Kings drought at the game?

Kobe Bryant's shoulder injury opened the spot, and Adam Silver named Cousins to the 2015 West team; the last Kings All-Stars before him were Brad Miller and Peja Stojaković in 2004.

Which former Pistons great became the Kings' interim head of basketball operations in August 2020?

Joe Dumars, who had built Detroit's 2004 champions as an executive, joined the Kings as an adviser in 2019 and took charge for a month in 2020 until Monte McNair was hired.

In which California city does the Kings' G League affiliate, moved from Reno in 2018, play?

Stockton: the affiliate spent its first ten seasons as the Reno Bighorns in Nevada before the Kings brought it over the state line to California's Central Valley and gave it their own name.

Which Kings sharpshooter from San Jose State died in August 1989 after his rookie season?

Ricky Berry, the 18th pick in 1988, had transferred to San Jose State to play for his father, the head coach there, and averaged 11 points as a rookie before taking his own life at 24.

Which Hall of Fame coach replaced Tyrone Corbin as Kings head coach in February 2015?

George Karl took over in February 2015 after Tyrone Corbin's interim spell, went 44–68 and was fired in April 2016, with Dave Joerger hired for the move to the new downtown arena.