If you would have held a poll before the season to gauge which NBA team in California would have two All-Stars the best record going into the break, a number of responses would have seemed appropriate.
The Warriors would have been a natural pick, as they were coming off their fourth title within the past decade and have a trio of future Hall of Famers alongside young star Jordan Poole. The Lakers, even with roster issues, had a pair of Top 75 players, in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who won the championship together in 2020. The Clippers haven’t reached the Promised Land, but they also boast a star pairing in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. And many analysts, including this author, picked them as the preseason favorites to come out of the West.
Much further down most people’s lists you would have found the Kings; the team currently mired in a 16-year playoff drought—the longest in NBA history, and currently the longest-running postseason dry spell of any team in the four major American men’s pro leagues.
Yet as we prepare to head into the month of March, Sacramento is the NBA’s biggest surprise, sitting at 35–25. That’s good for third place in the West, ahead of each California counterpart. The club leads the NBA with historic levels of offensive efficiency with a scheme taking advantage of spacing. Its duo of All-Stars this season combines for one of the Association’s best inside-outside combos. Speedy guard De’Aaron Fox has scored 30 or more in nine of this past 10 games and leads the league in clutch scoring. No player has grabbed more rebounds this season than physical big man Domantas Sabonis, who also is the league leader in double doubles while ranking ninth in total assists.
For the moment, Kings coach Mike Brown looks to be one of the leaders for Coach of the Year. After his team beat the Clippers in one of the wildest games in recent NBA history, he was kind enough to talk with me about his season so far and the road ahead for a club almost no one expected to be contending for home-court advantage this late in the campaign.