I’ve done the research, and the Sacramento Kings have not started a season off 6-3 since people were still calling each other on Nokias. This was the 2002-03 NBA season and a year that the Kings made the playoffs. The team led by the likes of Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Bobby Jackson, Vlade Divac (Sacramento’s current General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations), Peja Stojakovic (Sacramento’s current Director of Player Personnel and Development) and Doug Christie (Sacramento’s current commentator for NBC along with the legend Grant Napear).
These Kings look to replicate the success of their predecessors in the early 2000’s with young players like De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Harry Giles, Willie Cauley-Stein, and the newest member, Marvin Bagley.
To be clear, in no way am I writing this to hype up some championship run or deep post-season success story for this team. As I’ve said before, I expected nothing when the season started, and I’ll continue to expect nothing.
That doesn’t mean Kings fans can’t or shouldn’t be excited about five straight wins for a team that nobody expected any type of success from. Some have recently considered them the worst franchise in the entirety of the sports world. Some said they’d be surprised if Sacramento is able to win 20 games. A start like this is definitely a reason to be thrilled considering it hasn’t happened since Apple released its second generation iPod that held a then-incredible 20 GBs of space. So why not enjoy it while it’s happening? This is the NBA, however, and anything can happen. So let’s calm down and take it one game at a time.
While we’re here though, we might as well take a look at the reasons for the success in the last few games. Over the last five contests, Buddy Hield has averaged 24.0 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists. De’Aaron Fox became the youngest player in NBA history to post a 30-point, 15-assist, and 10-rebound triple-double in his stellar game against the Atlanta Hawks on November 1. He also became the second player under 21 years old to post a 30-point triple-double, the first being some dude named LeBron James.
In his post-game interview after his career night, Fox mentioned that before the season started he made it a goal to make an NBA All-Defensive team and to lead the league in steals. That’s a fantastic mindset for a young point guard.
The Kings’ away game in Atlanta was the first time since 1993 that they scored 146 points or more. They’re tied with the Golden State Warriors for most road wins in the NBA. These are all exciting things to see a very poorly rated team do to start the season. Bagley has looked promising as well, as he’s ranked in the top-five of rookies in blocks, steals, rebounds, and points.
Now, I know the counter-argument to all of this, so don’t waste your breath. I’m aware they’re only nine games into this season. It’s super early. I’m aware they’ve avoided teams like the Warriors, Raptors, Bucks, Jazz, and LeBron. With that being said, this still hasn’t happened in over 15 years for this franchise! So go ahead and bash Kings fans for being excited about a few wins in a row, but if your team was as awful as the Sacramento Kings have been for the last 15 years, I know you’d be just as thrilled to see them playing well and headed in a positive direction.
I saw somewhere that the Kings have had the fifth-toughest schedule in the league, so far, and it won’t be getting any easier. With their fourth and final game of this road trip in Milwaukee, they’ll have a difficult matchup against The Greek Freak and company. When they get back home to Sacramento, they’ll see Kawhi, Kyle Lowry, and the rest of Toronto to start off a difficult home-stand. Following Wednesday’s game against the Raptors comes a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves who, thanks to the dysfunctional Wizards, have snuck out of the NBA drama spotlight…for now.
Speaking of the Wolves, a massive shout out and congrats to Derrick Rose for his 50-point game this week. Any fan of the NBA should surely feel very happy for him.
As a season ticket holder, the game I’m most looking forward to is the game that has spiked ticket prices up by 500%. LeBron James will be in Sac-Town with his band of misfits on Saturday, November 10. Kings fans should be excited for Fox to show why he’s a better PG than Lonzo Ball. No game against LeBron is easy, and he has some solid guys around him, so I’m stoked to see this first game of the Kings vs Lakers rivalry this season.
The Kings play at the second-fastest pace in the league behind the Hawks whose wings were just clipped by Sac themselves. Pace doesn’t always make you the best, but the unselfish play and consistent shot-making by Fox and the crew have led to surprising success.
Streaks are meant to be broken, kings are meant to be dethroned, but as long as Sacramento keeps up this confidence and consistency, fans have nothing to complain about. Things are looking up for the first time in what seems like forever, but let’s just take it one day at a time.