Kings end longest playoff drought in NBA history, secure first postseason berth since 2006
Sacramento Kings #SacramentoKings
The Sacramento Kings have officially ended the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
Sacramento punched its postseason ticket Wednesday night with a 120-80 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers to secure its place in the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2006, breaking the the longest active playoff drought across North America’s “Big 4” sports (the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL).
For Kings fans, it’s a moment to celebrate (Light the Beam!). For the rest of us, it’s a good time to reflect on just how much has changed during the 16 seasons the Kings spent in the wilderness:
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Who were on the 2005-06 Kings?
There was little evidence the Kings were about to embark on a 16-year odyssey of missing the playoffs in 2006. Though the early years of the team’s time in Sacramento were brutal, the Kings were making their eighth straight playoff appearance in 2006 under Hall of Fame coach Rick Adelman.
Some mainstays of their best teams during that era were gone by 2005-06 (most notably Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Doug Christie) but the Kings were still a good team, putting together a 44-38 record while having an impressive seven double-digit scorers.
Mike Bibby led the way with 21.1 points per game, and he was joined in double figures by Metta Sandiford-Artest (then Ron Artest), Peja Stojakovic, Brad Miller, Bonzi Wells, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Kevin Martin.
Who won the 2006 NBA Finals?
The Kings went out in the first round that year in six games to a 63-win San Antonio Spurs team led by Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.
The title was captured by the Miami Heat, who won their first championship by defeating Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks in six games. Dwyane Wade, who was just 24 years old and in his third NBA season at the time, was named Finals MVP. The championship marked the fourth and final title for Shaquille O’Neal.
Where does Kings’ playoff drought rank in NBA history?
It’s the longest there’s ever been. The drought started with the decision not to bring Adelman back in the summer of 2006. Eleven men have manned the Kings bench, including interim coaches, between Adelman’s departure and the hiring of Mike Brown last summer. The Kings did not post a single winning record between 2006 and this season. In fact, Brown and Adelman are the only coaches the Kings have had that have produced winning records since the team moved to Sacramento in 1985.
The Kings’ 16-year playoff drought is one season longer than the previous NBA record, held by the Clippers franchise, which missed the playoffs between 1977-1991. In third is the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ended a 13-year playoff drought in 2018.
Kings rookie Keegan Murray, the fourth overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, was 5 years old when the team last played a postseason game.
What is now the longest active playoff drought in NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL?
The crown for longest playoff drought among North America’s “Big 4” sports passes to the New York Jets, who last played in a postseason game following the 2010 NFL season (they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC title game on Jan. 23, 2011).
The Buffalo Sabres’ NHL playoff hopes are currently hanging by a thread. Should they miss the postseason – and it appears they’re going to – they’ll extend their own NHL record by joining the Jets with 12 straight postseason misses. They last played a playoff game on April 26, 2011, when they fell to the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 7 in the first round.
The longest current MLB postseason droughts belong to the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels, with both making their last playoff appearances following the 2014 season. That’s right, we have not seen Mike Trout in a playoff game in eight years – and Shohei Ohtani has never appeared in one.
With the Kings finally making it to the NBA postseason, the new active leader for regular season futility is the Charlotte Hornets. Their streak is relatively modest, though; they haven’t made the playoffs since 2016.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kings end longest playoff drought in NBA history, secure first postseason berth since 2006