NBA championship-ready? Sacramento Kings fans have plenty of early optimism for new season
The clanging cowbells and the sea of purple were back at Golden 1 Center on Wednesday at the start of the Kings’ preseason slate against the Golden State Warriors.
And with the regular season beginning Oct. 24, there’s a sense of optimism — and heightened expectations — from Kings fans ahead of Mike Brown’s third season as head coach paired with the team’s improved roster. Sacramento over the summer kept free agent Malik Monk and added six-time All-Star DeMar DeRozan to the core featuring De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and Keegan Murray.
“Success, to me, would be winning a championship,” said Kings fan Steven Escalante before Wednesday’s game. “I think this team can win a championship. We still have to see how they mesh with DeRozan in the lineup. I totally think we can go to the Finals.”
The Kings haven’t won a playoff series since the spring of 2004. They fell short of their goals last season by getting eliminated in the second round of the NBA play-in tournament as the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference after taking out the Warriors at home.
That came after one of the most surprising turnarounds in recent memory, when the team snapped its 16-year playoff drought by finishing as the third seed in the Western Conference in 2022-23.
The Dallas Mavericks represented the Western Conference in last June’s NBA Finals and lost to the Boston Celtics in five games. The Kings went 2-2 against Dallas during the regular season with two road wins. But a point of frustration throughout last year was Sacramento’s penchant for losing against inferior teams.
That included home losses to the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and Houston Rockets. Sacramento went 0-3 for the season against the latter, a Houston team that went 41-41.
“Last year, we lost all the sucky games,” said fan Carlos Lubiano. “It was like, come on, man! The sucky teams we lost to, and all (against) all the good ones, we won. We just can’t let our guard down in any game.”
The Kings entered last season vocalizing their goals to contend in the West after earning the third seed a year earlier. But a knee injury for Monk late in the regular season contributed to losing seven of their final 11 regular season games and leading Sacramento to slip to the No. 9 seed.
Brown was asked how he’d define success this season with DeRozan in tow following his team’s exits in the first round of the playoffs and play-in tournament the past two years.
“I’m not right now,” Brown said. “It’s a process, it’s a journey.”
Brown mentioned the team brought in high-altitude mountaineer Ed Viesturs to speak to the team before the start of training camp, which hatched a theme of “climbing together” as the team builds towards the start of the regular season.
“It’s all about the journey,” Brown said. “If you start thinking about getting to the top of (the mountain) right now, disaster’s going to happen. And we’re going to hit some adversity, so for me, right now it’s just the beginning. As we go along, I’m looking forward to hitting some adversity with this group to see how we respond. This is year three together. Plus we have a couple of added components that are going to play for us, especially a veteran like DeMar. I’m looking forward to the process.”
The atmosphere at Golden 1 Center on Wednesday was similar to a regular season game. The crowd was vocal in its support of DeRozan in a preseason debut that lived up to the hype, as he scored 15 points while making all six of his shots in his 15 first-half minutes.
“It just feels like the team itself is probably excited to be playing together,” said Kings fan Scot Woodland. “And that has all the fans feeling excited.”
Woodland was at the game with his brother, Brian, who thinks DeRozan significantly raises expectations.
“I would with say with DeRozan, I think the expectations now are beyond the play-in,” Brian Woodland said. “He just seems like another solid-type figure to have on the team. Not an iffy or an unknown. He seems more solid.”
