Sacramento Kings: The Team that Dreams of Breaking a 16-Year Streak

It's been 16 years since the Sacramento Kings have played a Playoff game, being considered one of the worst teams in the NBA in recent years, an aspect that has been consolidated by their bad transfers and Draft choices. Despite this, in 2023, a balanced squad has been put together, which has been giving people something to talk about since the season began.

Draft failures

For many years, NBA fans have been accustomed to seeing the failures of this team, which did not make the best decisions to make up its squad, thus remaining in the last places of its conference. As if this were not enough, when choosing young promises they were always wrong, letting players like Stephen Curry, Luka Dončić, Trae Young and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander escape.

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Despite having great failures in these lotteries, the Sacramento team would hire the young promise Tyrese Haliburton in 2020, a base that with the passing of the days was showing that he was ready to be the star of the team. Having two great figures in this position, since they also had De'Aaron Fox for this season, the Kings' management decided to get rid of one of the two.

To the surprise of his fans, the young promise Tyrese Haliburton was transferred in 2022, this being one of the most controversial decisions in recent years. In this trade, the Kings received Domantas Sabonis, a center who already knew what it was like to be considered one of the best players in the league.

Start of reconstruction

Despite having hired an All-Star for their roster, the Kings failed again this season, this being one of the hardest blows for all their fans. For the 2023 season, its directives decided to go ahead with this new project, signing fundamental role players such as Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter.

In addition to hiring these two important players, in the fourth position of the Draft they stayed with Keegan Murray, this being one of the most outstanding choices of this team in recent years. This power forward has shown that he has reached the NBA to become one of the greatest figures on his team.

The key to success

The most relevant change to have this great sporting streak has been the arrival of coach Mike Brown. The 55-year-old strategist is one of the coaches who has shown the most knowledge in recent years, his role as technical assistant in the Warriors was crucial for this team to reach the top of the world.

Brown has come to be considered the cornerstone of this project, since with his great knowledge, he has been able to form one of the most balanced squads of the entire season. Currently, the Kings are the team that scores the most points per game, it is also the team with the best average points scored per game and as if this were not enough, they are the fourth-best team in the league in assists.

The importance of the All-Stars

De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis came to be highly criticized by Sacramento fans, who considered that because of these two players, their team had once again lost its top star. Regardless of this kind of comments, both basketball players have shown that they are up to the task of this project, becoming named to be in the all-star game this season.

The base has been winning the affection of all Sactown fans. In 2023, De'Aaron Fox has been averaging more than 20 points per game, making him one of the players with the best record at his position this season.

For his part, the Lithuanian continues to show that he has all the qualities to be an All-Star. In this regular phase, Sabonis has had great statistics, getting numerous rebounds per game, being key in both defense and attack.

The end of the losing streak

Currently, the Kings are in third position in the Western conference, being one step away from feeling the magic of a Playoff series again, thus ending one of the worst streaks in the NBA, since they have already been without power for 16 year and now search this stage of the championship.

On the other hand, all NBA fans will once again be able to feel the atmosphere that arises in the Golden 1 Center whenever their team is close to reaching the finals. Kings fans are the clear engine of this team, being considered one of the most passionate fans in this sport.

For now, the Kings are getting closer to reaching the Playoffs, this being a great opportunity to show the world their talent and surprise at the season finale, remembering that anything can happen in the NBA.