Good morning. Let’s basketball.

The Sacramento Kings officially ended their historic playoff drought with a 40-point win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. The Kings will be in the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2006.

To say that this is a cathartic moment for the fanbase is an understatement.

I’ll write more in the coming weeks about how it feels for me personally as someone who disinvested emotionally around the beginning of the De’Aaron Fox era — becoming a fairweather fan, so to speak — and I have a piece in the works looking at the Domantas Sabonis-Tyrese Haliburton trade from another angle.

But right now I want to point out that it’s not just about the playoff drought. That’s been the narrative arc tying the previous era together, and it’s what will capture the imaginations of all those viewing the Kings from afar. The last 16 years have been so much worse than just a playoff drought, though.

For the first half of that playoff drought, the Kings were at persistent risk of being relocated from Sacramento. There were multiple failed local arena deals, all of which were sabotaged directly by the previous owners of the Kings. That family essentially held city leaders hostage by torturing Kings fans with broken deals. Not long after that final playoff series of the Adelman era — Brent Barry and Kevin Martin both hit game-winners in that Spurs vs. Kings series, that’s how long ago it was — the Maloof family pulled support for a ballot measure just days before the vote over a dispute about a parking garage.

In the days of Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins, well into the playoff drought, the Kings broadcast twice ended a losing regular season expressing to fans that they had no idea whether they’d be back in Sacramento for opening night.

In the spring and summer of 2011 there were active efforts to move the Kings to Anaheim, where they’d play at the Honda Center and be a third team in the greater Los Angeles metro area. The move was far enough along that people I know who worked in the organization at the time were preparing to move to Orange County. The Kings had filed a trademark application for “Anaheim Royals.” It actually got all the way to consideration by the NBA Board of Governors; then Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson brought a billionaire to the party to offer to buy the team (the Maloofs declined) and had millions of dollars to a new local project committed by local business owners. The Maloofs, under pressure from the NBA, who was under pressure from Lakers boss Jerry Buss, pulled their request to move.

Next up was Virginia Beach. My ass had to write letters to the editor of a Virginia Beach newspaper to correct the record that Kings fans had abandoned the team. Virginia Beach sputtered out.

Several fan groups had raging efforts to put pressure on the NBA, the media, the Kings, local politicians and local businesses to make hay about these relocation attempts. We made flyers, man. And Facebook groups. There were rallies. Chants. Signs. We organized media junkets for visiting writers. We watched City Council meetings all over the place. We were tracking PAC spending by arena effort opponents. This is fandom? This is entertainment?

In 2013, in the middle of the season, the Maloofs — who had refused to entertain the idea of selling the team to someone who would commit to keep the team in Sacramento and support an arena project — agreed to sell the team to a Seattle-based ownership group that included Steve Ballmer. That happened in January of the Kings’ seventh straight losing, non-playoff season. A 28-54 season, in fact. The fifth straight season under 30 wins.

David Stern and Vivek Ranadive rescued the fandom that summer, thanks in part to efforts by fans to keep pressure high. The NBA denied the sale due to the planned relocation, the Maloofs quickly sold the team and disappeared. That whole experience in May 2013: that was a moment of catharsis too.

The losing continued. Three more losing seasons at the old arena. The disastrous firing of Michael Malone. Some atrocious draft picks and trades. The nightmare George Karl vs. DeMarcus Cousins era.

A new arena in 2016-17. A reminder that it could have been worse: instead of 28 wins a season, the Sacramento basketball franchise could have had zero. But then also: more losing. Six more losing seasons to open the new arena, in fact.

You see, a 16-year playoff drought doesn’t really do this justice. The immense stress of the first seven of those years under constant threat of losing the team entirely, and then the baffling inability to rise to the level of even average in nine season under new management … it’s more than just a historic playoff drought. It’s a horrifying experience for a fan.

That’s why this moment — and the moments to come for Game 1 of the Kings’ first round playoff series — feel especially cathartic for the fans, especially those who never wavered. Salute to them, and here’s to everlasting relief and joy.

Scores

Bucks 149, Pacers 136 — In the immortal words of Destiny’s Child (paraphrasing): Grayson Allen, I didn’t know you could get down like that.

NBA @NBA

GRAYSON ALLEN ELEVATED FOR THE POSTER 😱 Watch live on the NBA App 📺: app.link.nba.com/e/watch_now

1:11 AM ∙ Mar 30, 2023

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We did know that Giannis could get down like this.

Milwaukee Bucks @Bucks

Giannis over top Jalen Smith!!

1:09 AM ∙ Mar 30, 2023

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Jrue Holiday with 51. A career high. Impressive!

Rockets 114, Nets 123 — Shot …

Heat 92, Knicks 101 — … chaser. Brooklyn is now two games up on Miami in the loss column and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker, which takes precedent over being a division winner. And now the Hawks are just one loss behind Miami, with the Heat owning that tiebreaker. Suddenly, Nets vs. Hawks on Friday becomes an important game.

Josh Hart, perennial first team All Ignored During Dap Sesh.

Bleacher Report @BleacherReport

Jimmy leaves Josh Hart hanging 😂

1:55 AM ∙ Mar 30, 2023

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Mavericks 108, Sixers 116 — Doom has returned to Dallas. Joel Embiid and James Harden both played, and folks that was bad news for the Mavericks.

One minute left, Sixers up seven. Embiid with the dagger block on Doncic.

Philadelphia 76ers @sixers

SIXERS WIN!

2:11 AM ∙ Mar 30, 2023

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Pretty good.

Nothing really changes here in the East: Philly is still very likely to be 3rd. It’s looking like a series against the Nets is increasingly likely, with the No. 2 Celtics getting the Heat, Hawks or maybe the Raptors.

For the Mavericks, this adds to the oof. Those Hornets losses were especially painful because you don’t get teams like the Hornets every night. Sometimes you get Embiid and Harden. Dallas is now a full game behind OKC for No. 10, and OKC has clinched the tiebreaker. The Mavericks are basically ruled out of getting a top-6 spot at this point and are 50-50 to make the play-in. Even if they do, it’s most likely they’d go in as a 9 or 10, which means you need two wins to make the first round, where you’ll face freaking Denver. Bad news!

Lakers 121, Bulls 110 — Great revenge win for Los Angeles: it solidifies their play-in positioning and preserves their decent-ish shot at an outright top-6 seed (15% currently per Playoff Status). That’s right, folks: Kings vs. Lakers in the first round is still on the table. Anthony Davis with 38 and 10! LeBron shook off some more rust!

The only thing, however, anyone will remember from this game is Austin Reaves hitting Patrick Beverley with the revenge “too small.”

NBA on ESPN @ESPNNBA

Austin Reaves hit Pat Bev with the "TOO SMALL" 😭

2:24 AM ∙ Mar 30, 2023

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This, of course, comes a few days after Pat Bev did it to LeBron in the Bulls’ win. LeBron reacted after the game.

Jovan Buha @jovanbuha

LeBron James on what he thought about Austin Reaves doing the “too small” gesture to Patrick Beverley: “That AR always got my back. Always. Even though he loved Kobe back in the day more than me. I forgive him.”

2:59 AM ∙ Mar 30, 2023

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That “even though he loved Kobe back in the day” reference is about this, which LeBron is acknowledging for the first time (because he was hurt when it was discovered recently):

PointsBet Sportsbook @PointsBetUSA

Austin Reaves posting this on Facebook in 2012 and now LeBron is his teammate 😅

8:53 PM ∙ Mar 13, 2023

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Clippers 141, Grizzlies 132 — No Kawhi, still no Paul George. But Russell Westbrook is here to lead Team Street Lights to victory over potential first round foe Memphis, who had been smokin’ hot.

The Brodie rides again. I don’t think that Dillon Brooks wants it. Do you?

Memphis giving up a buck 42 to the Clippers without either star is pretty shocking. But the Grizzlies were missing Jaren Jackson Jr. With JJJ, Steven Adams or Brandon Clarke, Memphis is absolutely tiny. Westbrook and the Clips took advantage.

Pistons 106, Thunder 107 — This would have been a *disastrous* loss for the Thunder in their quest for the postseason. Jalen Williams, per usual, is in the right place at the right time.

OKC sits with roughly a 3-in-4 probability of getting into the play-in, likely in the 9-10 bracket. What a turn of events. You wonder if the Mavericks saw this in the locker room …

Jazz 128, Spurs 117 — Neither Lauri Markkanen or Kelly Olynyk dressed. Utah’s front office must be convinced that Markkanen has locked up an All-NBA nod. Otherwise, you’d think his agent would be raising holy hell. The Jazz remain alive for a play-in spot, 1.5 games out of No. 10 but lacking a couple of critical tiebreakers. I will say that I don’t really care for what the Jazz are doing here the last couple of weeks, sitting Markkanen on a regular basis when he appears to be healthy, even though it has benefit the Kings.

Timberwolves 100, Suns 107 — Kevin Durant returned but went 1/8 in the first half. Devin Booker did enough. Highly competitive game. The Wolves look really good since Karl-Anthony Towns returned.

Kings 120, Blazers 80 — A little icing on this one: Keegan Murray broke the all-time rookie record for most threes in a season, passing Donovan Mitchell. He’s actually currently No. 19 in made threes in the league this season and could move up based on how much the players above him are shooting these days. He’s shooting just shy of 41% on more than six attempts per game. He’ll finish with the 8th most prolific shooting season in Sacramento Kings history … as a rookie. As a King Peja Stojakovic only hit more threes than Murray has hit this season once. And in that season Peja played about 1,000 more minutes than the rook has. Great start to a career.

Schedule

All times Eastern. Err, both times Eastern.

Celtics at Bucks, 7:30, TNT
Pelicans at Nuggets, 10, TNT

Be excellent to each other.