NBA India Games 2019: All you need to know about Sacramento Kings ahead of landmark Mumbai matches against Indiana Pacers

On 4 and 5 October in Mumbai, the Indiana Pacers and the Sacramento Kings will face off in the first NBA India Games, to be held at the NSCI Dome.

With just a few days remaining until the two teams meet, here’s everything you need to know about the Sacramento Kings:

Who are the Sacramento Kings?

The Sacramento Kings are the latest incarnation of one of the oldest continuously operating professional basketball franchises in America, having been formed as the Rochester Seagrams, all the way back in 1923. The Seagrams made the move to the National Basketball League in 1945, in which they competed as the Rochester Royals, winning the championship in their very first season. The Royals became a part of a fledgeling league named the NBA in 1949, along with the Minneapolis Lakers (now LA Lakers), the Fort Wayne Pistons (now Detroit Pistons) and the now-defunct Indianapolis Jets.

Since then, the Kings have gone through a couple of more rebrands, being known as the Cincinnati Royals and the Kansas City Kings, before coming into their current name in 1985, when they moved to Sacramento, California. Since 2013, the Kings have been owned by Vivek Ranadive, an Indian-origin tech entrepreneur who previously was the co-owner of the Golden State Warriors.

What have they won?

Despite having played in the NBA since 1945, the Sacramento Kings have just the one NBA championship to their name. Well, it’s not really to their name, per se. The team that won the 1951 title was called the Rochester Royals, a moniker that would go through a couple of rebrandings before becoming the Sacramento Kings. Since their post-war victory, the Kings have not enjoyed much success, winning just the three division titles, which came in 1979, 2002 and 2003.

Who are some of the best players to have played for the Sacramento Kings?

The Sacramento Kings have had more than their fair share of talented players over the years, but one of the standout names is Oscar Robertson, who is the franchise’s leader in total points (22,009), minutes played (33,088) and total assists (7,731). Robertson, or ‘The Big O,’ was a point guard who played for the Kings (then Cincinnati Royals) from 1960-1970, a period in which he was named NBA Most Valuable Player once (1964), was a part of the NBA All-Star team on multiple occasions, and also became the first player to average a triple-double for a season. Other Sacramento Kings legends include Jack Twyman, who spent all 11 years of his career at the Kings, Jerry Lucas, who enjoyed six very prolific years with the erstwhile Royals, and Chris Webber, who was a key aspect of the Kings’ resurgence in the late 90s.

How was their 2018/19 season?

Sacramento Kings went into the 2018/19 season with many experts predicting them to struggle, owing to a poor off-season, an overall lack of quality and a terrible scoring record in the previous season. Marvin Bagley III was a great pick in the draft, but at just 19 years of age, was expected to take some time settling into life in the NBA, and the Kings were already a bit short on experience in the squad as it was. Suffice it to say, the Kings were not given much of a chance heading into the season.

What pundits and fans alike did not account for, however, was De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield’s sudden and marked improvement, which turned the Kings into a force to be reckoned with. Armed with the trifecta of Fox, Hield and Bagley, the Kings sprang many a surprise over the course of the season, even managing to finish above the likes of fierce rivals LA Lakers and the Anthony Davis-led New Orleans Pelicans. While they eventually finished just one place outside the playoff spots, it was still a very positive season for the Kings, and has breathed life back into a franchise that has endured a difficult decade or so since their heydays in the early 2000s.

What is their style of play?

Last season the Kings used their youth players to display an up-tempo run-and-gun style of basketball. Their players were also very trigger-happy and likely to hoist three-pointers in games — in fact, in the three-point percentage numbers, they were fourth in the 30-team NBA, behind only the San Antonio Spurs, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the champions Golden State Warriors. Their style of play helped them win 39 games in the 2018-19 season, up from the 27 wins they posted in 2017-18 and the most they have done since the last time they made the Playoffs in 2005-06. Unfortunately, they were ninth last season in the Western Conference, just outside the Playoff positions.