Knicks' Championship is the Feather in the Cap for Disappointing Kings Season

If the Sacramento Kings winning just 22 games wasn't bad enough last season, the feather in the cap for one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory happened last night with the New York Knicks winning the NBA Championship. In his first year with New York, former Kings head coach Mike Brown took the Knicks to the pinnacle and came out on top, much to the dismay of many around Sacramento.

The Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown 18 months ago.

He’s now an NBA Champion.

I stand by my initial statement…he wasn’t the problem in Sacramento. pic.twitter.com/6m6GPe922w
— Kevin John (@heykevinjohn) June 14, 2026

It wasn't long ago that Brown led the Kings back to the NBA playoffs, as he helped break the infamous 16-year playoff drought in Sacramento. But after that magical season, the Kings weren't able to make it back to the postseason, and Brown was let go partway through the 2024-25 season. It's been a free-fall in Sacramento since the Beam Team season, and it always felt like Brown got the short end of the stick with the Kings moving on too quickly.

At the end of the day, the finals were always going to end with either Brown or former All-Star De'Aaron Fox winning the championship, but with Fox's struggles throughout the series, Brown winning hurts just a little bit more. The Knicks had relatively the same roster as last season, but under Brown's coaching, they were able to string together one of the most impressive runs in NBA history throughout the end of the season and playoffs.

For the Kings, it's not just that Brown won the championship. It's combining that with all of the other storylines from Sacramento's season. From the rash of injuries and expensive veterans that seem unmovable to rising in the standings and falling in the lottery, it's been a full year of let-downs from the Kings.

As a reminder, the Kings were in a spot to secure the top spot in the draft lottery and lock in a top-five pick at worst, but used a late-season surge to climb in the standings before falling to the seventh spot in the draft.

Feb 25, 2026; Houston, Texas, USA; Sacramento Kings guard DeMar DeRozan (10) looks up after a play during the third quarter against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

At the beginning of the offseason, I looked at where this last season ranked in terms of disappointing seasons in recent memory for the Kings. And now, there's no question. This is officially the worst season in the last decade-plus of Kings history. They've had worse records, but any one of the storylines above is enough to bring disappointment to a fanbase. Combining them all into a single year leaves a feeling of defeat in the air in Sacramento.

The Good News?

The good news is that the season is officially over. The 2025-26 season was always going to be a gap year with Scott Perry having to clean up the mess that was left from Monte McNair and the previous regime. It's just unfortunate that it had to be in the way that it was, with so few positive takeaways from the season. Luckily for Sacramento, the Kings can still draft a star with the seventh pick. Having a young prospect with star potential should bring a boost of much-needed excitement to Sacramento.

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