The Sacramento Kings have a microscopic chance of winning the NBA championship, but they can absolutely be the team that no one wants to play against.
As the NBA is set to resume the 2019-20 season this week, there are a handful of favorites to be the last team standing. The Milwaukee Bucks as well as both teams from Los Angeles are no doubt the front-runners, but there are a handful of other teams that could make some noise. While they may stand no chance of being NBA champions, the Sacramento Kings are one team that should not be slept on.
It has been a long stretch of futility for the basketball team from the California capital. Terrible draft picks and scrutinized trades have made the Kings one of the laughing stocks of the league, and it has been nearly 15 years since they last qualified for the playoffs.
More from Hoops Habit
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
- NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers
The Kings have known that they would be one of the 22 teams involved in the Orlando bubble since late May, and there have been plenty of ups and downs since that news broke. After an already tumultuous start to the 2019-20 season, positive results from coronavirus tests rolled through the roster as the team was gearing up to leave Sacramento for the restart. This was compounded by quarantine issues with Richaun Holmes, as well as ailments to cornerstones De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley.
FiveThirtyEight gives the Kings just about a 7.5 percent chance of making the playoffs, favoring the Grizzlies and Pelicans to qualify for the 8th seed instead. Not only is Sacramento on the outside looking in, but there have been multiple instances in which media outlets have completely ignored their existence when talking about the race at the bottom of the Western Conference.
So do the Kings have a chance to make any noise at all? Will they be able to win the necessary six out of eight games to qualify for the postseason?
Here are three reasons why the Sacramento Kings will make the playoffs and end their streak of futility.