Most devastating injury in Sacramento Kings history: Chris Webber
The Chris Webber-led Sacramento Kings enjoyed some of the greatest seasons in franchise history during the early 2000s.
With Webber, Vlade Divac, Peja Stojakovic, Jason Williams and later Mike Bibby all providing hoops fans with some of the beautiful team basketball between the muck of iso-heavy play that most teams still relied on during that time, the Kings quickly morphed into a legit contender. They even took the Los Angeles Lakers to seven games in the Western Conference Finals before ultimately falling.
However, the cracks began to show in Game 2 of Sacramento’s Western Conference Semifinals series against the Dallas Mavericks. In that game, Webber suffered a scary non-contact knee injury that ended his season and effectively dashed the Kings’ title chances.
Webber underwent microfracture surgery and played the final 23 games of the next season. However, it was clear that he wasn’t the player as he was pre-injury. Sure, he put up solid numbers, but blowing past defenders wasn’t as easy and it created a ripple effect on his entire game.
The Kings realized that the end was nigh too. This is why they traded Webber to the Philadelphia 76ers for what amounted to spare parts. Not long after that, the Kings watched Stojakovic and Bibby leave. Just like that, the Kings have devolved into one of the NBA’s least respected franchises as far as the on-court product is concerned.