Best in the West: Where will Sacramento Kings finish in NBA’s loaded Western Conference?
The Kings emerged as the biggest surprise story in the NBA last season while winning 48 games to secure the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, ending the longest playoff drought in league history after 16 consecutive losing seasons.
The Beam Team won’t surprise anyone this season with reigning Coach of the Year Mike Brown returning to lead the All-NBA duo of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, All-Rookie First Team selection Keegan Murray, veteran forward Harrison Barnes and an explosive bench.
The Kings hope to challenge the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets and other top teams for Western Conference supremacy, but that will be no small task. The Golden State Warriors added Chris Paul to a group that already features Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Draymond Green. The Phoenix Suns brought in Bradley Beal to join forces with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant. The Los Angeles Lakers have made a series of moves dating back to last season to improve their talent and depth around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, including the summer additions of point guard Gabe Vincent and forward Christian Wood.
“A lot of teams got better,” Brown said. “It’s going to be hard. It’s going to be harder than last year, for sure. We want that. We expect it. And if we expect to be champions, we’re going to have to step up, face the music and get through it.”
The Kings will start by facing the Utah Jazz in their season opener Wednesday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City. They will return to Sacramento after the game to prepare for their home opener against the Warriors on Friday at Golden 1 Center with the Lakers scheduled to visit Sunday.
Oddsmakers currently have the Nuggets favored to win the Western Conference followed by the Suns, Warriors, Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and Memphis Grizzlies. The Kings and New Orleans Pelicans are tied with the eighth-best odds of winning the West.
“A lot of teams have gotten better,” Kings guard Kevin Huerter said. “On paper, at least, it looks that way. A lot of teams have gotten better. Teams have gotten healthier. It’s tough. This is the West. This was the West even when I got traded here last year.
“The West was tough and there were some teams that saw the injury bug or a couple trades happened or things didn’t pan out. That really doesn’t change what we do inside this building. I think we’re really comfortable with the guys we have coming back and having some continuity from last year and continuing to do what we do, and the rest will take care of itself.”
Kings general manager Monte McNair, the reigning NBA Executive of the Year, has done a masterful job of rebuilding the roster since coming to Sacramento in 2020. McNair previously spent 13 years with the Houston Rockets, so he knows what it takes to contend in the Western Conference — and he knows his work is never done.
The Portland Trail Blazers figure to take a step back after trading Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks, but virtually every other team in the West could be better.
“We’re certainly always exploring ways that we can improve this team until we are a multi-time champion. Even then, we’re going to continue to try to push forward and look at those opportunities,” McNair said. “We’re certainly glad when talent goes east, but the West is going to be an absolute dogfight again. I think this is my 16th year in the West and it never changes, so, for us, the great thing is we have a chance to be a top two, three (or) four seed again, and that gets you homecourt in the first round. But there are 11 or 12 teams that are dying to get into the (playoffs), so we can’t rest on our laurels.”
