Rochester

The team was founded by brothers Les and Jack Harrison in 1945. They achieved success immediately as they won the NBL Championship the next year. The Royals joined the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1948. The next year, the BAA and the NBL merged to form the National Basketball Association. In 1951, the Royals won the NBA Championship which was their first and last till date.

Cincinnati

The Royals moved to Cincinnati in 1957. The top two stars at the time were Jack Twyman and Maurice Stokes. Unfortunately, Stokes had a bad fall during a game and suffered from brain injury and that ended his career. The team made the playoffs in the initial few years, but never managed to advance any further. The Harrison brothers sold the team to Cincinnati owners when they were not permitted to move the team back to Rochester by the NBA. A few years later, in 1966 the team was sold to another pair of brothers, Jeremy and Max Jacobs. The Royals did not fare too well and made a move again to Kansas City in 1972.

Kansas City

The team got their new name, the Kansas City Kings similar to their earlier “royal” nickname. They had many star players during that era such as Tom Van Arsdale, Toby Kimball and Sam Lacey. In 1980, the team made the Western Conference Finals but lost. The Kings divided their home games between Kansas City and Omaha from 1972 to 1975. After that, they played only in Kansas City until they moved in 1985.

Current Home

The first few years of the Kings were disastrous both on and off the arena. Bobby Hurley’s career ended in a car crash and Rick Berry committed suicide. The team was sold to the Maloof Family in 1997 after which their fortunes began to look up again. In the years between 2000 and 2005, the Kings made the playoffs several times and won the Division Title twice. In 2007, the Sacramento Kings missed the playoffs after making it for the last eight seasons. Their new head coach Reggie Theus was hired in June 2007. The current roster includes Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Mike Bibby, Brad Miller and the newly drafted Spencer Hawes.

Retired Numbers

The Kings have retired eight numbers so far. These include Maurice Stokes 12, Jack Twyman 27, Sam Lacey 44 and Mitch Richmond 2. Richmond is the only Sacramento player to be honored so far.