The Sacramento Kings, The Biggest Surprise of the NBA

By Christopher Felts

The Sacramento Kings haven’t been to the playoffs since 2006. It’s been nearly 14 years of unsuccessful seasons, bad draft picks, and just plain dumb decisions. Even through all of this ineptitude, the city still manages to embrace the team whole heartedly. The Kings have become an identifier for Sacramento. They are the only major league sports team in the city and they are treated with so much love. It is with great pride, now, that the Kings are in the playoff race this season. They have been the biggest surprise of the seasons because the analysts only gave them, at most, twenty-five wins for the whole season. The Kings now sit just below the eighth seed, the last playoff spot, with a record of 31-29. The season has been a great one so far. They have been led by second year guard De’Aaron Fox and guard Buddy Hield. Buddy Hield is a case of ultimate surprise.

Buddy was acquired by the Kings after trading, perhaps the best big man in the league today, DeMarcus Cousins. I won’t shy away from it, I was one of the many fans who almost gave up on the Kings the moment I heard the news. We gave up one of the best players we have ever had for Buddy Hield, a rookie who wasn’t even playing that good to begin with. We all turned out to be wrong as Buddy Hield has been fantastic. Another decision that fans hated was the drafting of forward, Marvin Bagley.

The Sacramento Kings had the opportunity to pick Luka Doncic, who is poised to win Rookie of the Year. Doncic is a player that I wanted on the Kings, but looking back on it, that was probably the right decisions. Doncic would’ve taken the ball out of Fox and Hield’s hands and probably wouldn’t be as successful as they are now. Marvin as been an excellent player and has complimented the two guards really well.

The Kings haven been to the playoffs since 2006. They are now in the playoff hunt after some great decisions from the front office to make the team even better. I’m a Kings fan who hasn’t had too much to be excited over for over a decade. Even if they don’t make the playoffs this year, we have a future for the first time in forever. We have something to build off of. The Kings will be scary, if not this year, definitely next year. With a new team and a new beautiful stadium in the Golden 1 Center, the Kings have a new image of not being a joke. Sacramento has come to play, and we’re excited.