The Sacramento Kings would be born as an independent franchise in 1923 by first operating as the
Rochester Seagrams. However, after primarily operating as an independent franchise for most of their existence up until the
World War II years, with
Prohibition's long-term effects resulting in the team's final seasons as an independent franchise leading to them first play as the
Rochester Eber Seagrams and then as the
Rochester Pros, they would finally enter the
National Basketball League in 1945 after
World War II ended alongside the
Youngstown Bears and the
Indianapolis Kautskys as the
Rochester Royals after the Rochester franchise previously declined entry back when that league originally was known as the Midwest Basketball Conference in the mid-1930s. Rochester's first season would see immediate success, as while they wouldn't get the best record in the NBL that season, they would win the NBL championship by first winning 3–1 over the
Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons in the Eastern Division Playoff and then sweeping the
Sheboygan Red Skins 3–0 in the championship round. By contrast, the Lakers would see anything but immediate success upon their entry into the NBL as the
Detroit Gems the following season, During their only season of play within the BAA, the Lakers and Royals would meet up once again in a playoff setting, this time being held in the BAA's Western Division Finals, which ended with Minneapolis sweeping Rochester 2–0 and later winning the final BAA championship ever held before its merger into the modern-day NBA. The Lakers won five of these series and went on to win five NBA Championships in Minneapolis, while the Royals won the 1951 series and went on to win the
1951 NBA Finals, their sole NBA Championship. The Royals would then go through various periods of futility and success, with a relocation to
Cincinnati in 1957, a period of playoff appearances between 1962 and 1967 led by MVP point guard
Oscar Robertson, another location to
Kansas City, Missouri in 1972 (with a part-time residency in
Omaha, Nebraska until 1975) with minimal playoff success (while renaming to the
Kings to avoid confusion with the
Kansas City Royals), and then finally relocating to
Sacramento, California in 1985, where they remain today. Meanwhile, the Lakers would relocate to their present-day home of
Los Angeles in 1960, winning six more championships between 1972 and 1988, largely with the
Showtime team led by MVPs
Magic Johnson,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, coach
Pat Riley, owner
Jerry Buss, and general manager
Jerry West. The Kings and Lakers had one playoff series against each other during this period in 1984 (while the Kings were still in Kansas City), with the Lakers sweeping the Kings 3–0. In 1996, the Lakers signed future MVP
Shaquille O'Neal in free agency, and traded for future MVP
Kobe Bryant in the
1996 NBA draft. In 2000,
Phil Jackson from the
Chicago Bulls dynasty was hired as head coach. Meanwhile, the Kings qualified for the playoffs in 1996, and would be a perennial playoff team between 1998 and 2006, becoming known as
The Greatest Show On Court. The Kings were coached by
Rick Adelman and led by
Chris Webber,
Vlade Divac,
Peja Stojaković,
Jason Williams,
Bobby Jackson, among others. During this time, a bitter rivalry between the teams would be renewed, facing each other in consecutive playoff series between 2000 and 2002. The Lakers would defeat the Kings in 5 games in the 2000 Western Conference First Round, while they would sweep the Kings the following year in the 2001 Semifinals en route to back-to-back championships.
2002 Western Conference Finals Lead up During the 2001 offseason, the Kings traded Williams to the
Memphis Grizzlies for
Mike Bibby, who would create more stability at point guard. That season, they would finish with the best record in the NBA at 61–21. Meanwhile, the Lakers, despite an arthritic toe from O'Neal, would finish 58-24 and claimed the third seed in the Western Conference. In the playoffs, the Kings defeated the
Utah Jazz and
Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs to advance to the Western Conference Finals, while the Lakers would defeat the
Portland Trail Blazers and
San Antonio Spurs to face off with the Kings.
Game 1 and 2 The Lakers and Kings split the first two games in Sacramento. Los Angeles raced out to a 36-point first quarter in Game 1 behind 67% shooting and never trailed, paced by
Kobe Bryant's 30 point effort and 26 points from
Shaquille O'Neal.
Chris Webber had 28 points and 14 rebounds, but the other Kings combined shot under 40 percent. Sacramento rebounded to win Game 2, paced behind Webber (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Mike Bibby (20 points). O'Neal had 35 points and 13 rebounds, but struggled with foul trouble; Bryant shot 9-for-21 from the field and was suffering from food poisoning which he contracted from a meal at the team hotel, and some felt it was done deliberately by the hotel staff. The loss snapped the NBA record 12-game playoff road winning streak for the Lakers.
Game 3 The Kings went to Staples Center and dominated Game 3 to regain home-court advantage, leading by as many as 27 and never trailing. They were again paced by Webber and Bibby, who combined for 50 points, and got solid contributions from
Doug Christie (17 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals) and
Vlade Divac (11 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks). Other than a brief 3-point barrage in the 4th quarter by the Lakers to cut the lead to 12, there was not much help provided for O'Neal, who had 20 points and 19 rebounds.
Game 4 In Game 4, Sacramento again got out to a fast start with a 40-point first quarter and built a 24-point first half lead. However, the Lakers cut the lead to 14 at halftime with a
Samaki Walker 3-pointer at the buzzer that should not have counted (replay was not used at the time), and to 7 after three quarters. They whittled it down to 2 on the final possession with a chance to tie or win it, but Bryant missed a running layup and Shaq missed a put-back attempt. Divac knocked the ball away from the hoop in an attempt to run out the clock, but instead it wound up going to a wide open
Robert Horry behind the 3 point line, who hit the 3 over Webber at the buzzer to give the Lakers an improbable victory, which tied the series going back to Sacramento. Horry scored 11 of his 18 points in the 4th quarter, including two more crucial 3-pointers. O'Neal finished with 27 points and 18 rebounds, Bryant had 25. Divac, Webber and Bibby all finished with 20+ points for the Kings.
Game 5 As the series shifted back to Sacramento for Game 5, the Kings trailed almost the entire fourth quarter, but a jump shot by Bibby off a screen with 8.2 seconds left gave them the lead and was the game-winner in a 92–91 win. Bibby scored 23 in all, and Webber had 29 points and 13 rebounds in support. Bryant led Los Angeles with 30 points, but missed a potential game winner at the buzzer. O'Neal had 28 points, but did not take a shot in the 4th quarter and fouled out.
Game 6 Game 6 is considered to be one of the most controversial games in not just NBA history, but arguably all of North American professional sports history, as numerous questionable calls went against the Kings in the fourth quarter. The Lakers, led by O'Neal's 41 points and 17 rebounds, won 106–102, setting the stage for Game 7 in Sacramento. There are allegations that the game was affected by the referees in relationship to the
Tim Donaghy scandal. The Lakers shot 40 free throws overall, 27 in the fourth quarter alone, and the Kings' big men were plagued with foul trouble (Divac, Webber,
Scot Pollard, and
Lawrence Funderburke were called for 20 fouls, with Divac and
Scot Pollard both fouling out). Webber nearly had a triple double (26 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists), Bibby scored 23, and Divac had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Washington Post sports columnist
Michael Wilbon responded to the calls in Game 6: "I wrote down in my notebook six calls that were stunningly incorrect, all against Sacramento, all in the fourth quarter when the Lakers made five baskets and 21 foul shots to hold on to their championship." For example, Wilbon pointed out that
Kobe Bryant did not get a foul called on him after elbowing
Mike Bibby in front of an official.
Game 7 Game 7 was tense, featuring 16 ties and 19 lead changes. In the final ten seconds with Los Angeles up 99–98,
Peja Stojaković air-balled a wide open 3, and O'Neal was fouled on the rebound. After O'Neal hit 1 of 2 free throws, Bibby was fouled by Bryant and made both free throws to force overtime. The Kings' offense stalled in the extra period, and the Lakers prevailed 112–106. Sacramento was undone by poor free throw shooting (16–30 from the line), a horrid 2–20 from behind the arc, and a seeming unwillingness for anyone other than Bibby to take crucial shots down the stretch. O'Neal scored 35 and Bryant added 30 in the victory, as all five Lakers starters finished in double figures. Bibby finished with 29 points, and Webber finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists. Divac added 15 points and 10 rebounds. To date, this is the latest postseason meeting between the two teams.
Series Overview The 2002 Western Conference Finals was widely regarded as one of the best series in NBA playoff history, with the last four games coming down to the final seconds. Two games were decided on game winning shots and Game 7 was decided in overtime. However, the series was marred by controversy and allegations of corruption. On June 10, 2008, convicted NBA referee
Tim Donaghy's attorney filed a court document alleging that Game 6 was fixed by two referees. The letter states that Donaghy "learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be 'company men', always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series." The Lakers won Game 6 106–102, attempting 18 more free throws than the Kings in the fourth quarter, and went on to win the series, and eventually the NBA championship. The document claimed that Donaghy told federal agents that in order to increase television ratings and ticket sales, "top executives of the NBA sought to manipulate games using referees". It also said that NBA officials would tell referees to not call technical fouls on certain players, and states that a referee was privately reprimanded by the league for ejecting a star player in the first quarter of a January 2000 game. Stern denied the accusations, calling Donaghy a "singing, cooperating witness".
Aftermath (left) attempting a free throw against the
Sacramento Kings, with teammate
Derek Fisher (center) and
Beno Udrih (right) looking on, during a regular season game on January 2, 2010. The Lakers would go on to win the
2002 NBA Finals, sweeping the
New Jersey Nets and completing their three-peat. In the
following postseason,
Doug Christie punched
Rick Fox in the pre-season game in October. Both players would be ejected and had another fight in the back near the locker room area before being separated. In 2003, the King would lose the Western Conference Semifinals to the
Dallas Mavericks after Webber tore his ACL. The Lakers would also lose in the Semifinals to the Spurs, who went on to win the
2003 NBA Finals. In the
2004 NBA Playoffs, the Kings would lose in the Semifinals to the
Minnesota Timberwolves in seven games, while the Lakers would lose the
2004 NBA Finals to the Detroit Pistons. After playoff appearances in 2005 and 2006, the Kings would fail to qualify for the playoffs again until 2023. Additionally, the Kings would be
threatened with relocation between 2006 and 2013 before building
Golden 1 Center, moving there in 2016. Meanwhile, the Lakers have since won three more championships in 2009, 2010, and 2020 being led by players like Bryant,
Pau Gasol,
LeBron James, and
Anthony Davis, bringing their championship count to 17. Despite not meeting in the postseason since the 2002 Western Conference Finals to date, bitterness between the teams remain due to the series. In 2023, the two qualified for the same postseason for the first time since 2006. However, the Sacramento Kings lost to the Golden State Warriors in seven games while the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Memphis Grizzlies in six games, preventing a playoff series between the two. During the 2023–2024 season, both teams advanced to the quarterfinals of the
2023 NBA In-Season Tournament, but a Kings loss to the
New Orleans Pelicans prevented a semifinal matchup in
Las Vegas against the Lakers, who would go on to win the inaugural tournament. Both teams were in the 2024 NBA Play-In Tournament, with the Lakers and Kings finishing the regular season as the 8th and 9th seed, respectively. While the Kings defeated the 10th seed Golden State Warriors, the Lakers defeated the 7th seed New Orleans Pelicans, who would defeat the Kings to advance in the tournament, preventing a postseason matchup. == Season-by-season results ==