Was This The Kings' Most Disappointing Season in Recent Memory?

The Sacramento Kings' season is finally nearing an end, as they tip off for the final time tomorrow evening against the Portland Trail Blazers at 5:30 PM PST. The game very much matters for Portland, as they currently are tied with the Los Angeles Clippers for the eighth seed in the tough Western Conference, but while the Kings' lottery odds are still on the line, it's hard to compare a playoff positioning battle with a draft lottery battle to end the year.

The game will put an end to an extremely disappointing season for the Kings. They didn't come into the year with high expectations, at least externally, but no one thought they would be this bad. As a reminder, as it's been a long, arduous season that makes it feel like lightyears ago, Sacramento had an extremely positive training camp that got hopes up around the city.

But those hopes were quickly dampened by injuries and a 3-12 start to the year, and the season was all but over a month in. Even without his expectations, that's a tough pill to swallow for a team that wasn't supposed to be this bad. And it begs the question: was this the most disappointing season in recent memory for Sacramento?

Pre-Beam Team Year

Nov 11, 2015; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay (8) high fives forward DeMarcus Cousins (15) as a timeout is called after a play against the Detroit Pistons during the third quarter at Sleep Train Arena. The Sacramento Kings defeated the Detroit Pistons 101-92. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

We start by looking back at the playoff drought years, with 16 seasons to choose from. That leaves no shortage of disappointing seasons to pick. The always odd 2014-15 season where the Kings went through three coaches in Michael Malone, Ty Corbin, and George Karl, immediately stands out.

DeMarcus Cousins had cemented himself as one of, if not the best, bigs in the league and looked primed to lead the Kings back to the playoffs. But he caught viral meningitis early in the season, which ultimately led to the coaching carousel and another lottery bound year.

Another contender is Marvin Bagley III's rookie year, or even his second season in 2019-20. A high draft pick will always raise expectations, and with the second pick in Bagley, the hope was that he and Fox would lead Sacramento for years to come. But that never panned out, and now Bagley is making his way through the league while Fox gets ready for a championship run in San Antonio.

Ultimately, these drought years were disappointing, but the Kings were never expected to do much in any of those seasons, unlike the hopes we've seen since they finally broke the long playoff drought.

Post-Beam Team Years

Jan 5, 2024; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk (0) and guard De'Aaron Fox (5) and forward Domantas Sabonis (10) and forward Keegan Murray (13) look on during a free throw during the fourth quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The Beam Team already feels like forever ago, but it was four years ago that the Kings were the NBA darlings. Since that magical 48-win season, they've won 46, 40, and now 22 (with a chance to make it 23) games. That's a slow and steady drop-off for two seasons before the plummet to the bottom of the standings this year.

Of those four seasons, the two that stand out as the most disappointing are this season and the follow-up to the playoff-breaking year in 2023-24. Instead of building on the previous season, the Kings faltered and weren't able to recapture their magic. Unlike this season, they came into that year with extremely high expectations.

The failure to meet those expectations is what absolutely destroyed the hearts of many in Sacramento. It wasn't just that they didn't get back to the postseason, but it was the combination of rumors that never came to fruition and the high hopes coming into the season that made it so disappointing.

Instead of building on the success and making a move to bolster the front-court, Monte McNair and the front office brought in DeMar DeRozan for the 2024-25 season. It once again raised expectations, as bringing in a future hall-of-famer will always do, but the fit always seemed questionable at best. Last season wasn't great, but it feels like it falls in the middle of the pack disappointment-wise.

That leaves two choices: this year, and the follow-up to the Beam Team year.

Even though the records are drastically different, and this season is statistically worse in every way, that 2023-24 season still reigns supreme in disappointment levels. I'll add that this season may take the cake if the Kings drop to the seventh or eight spot in the lottery, though. Being at the bottom of the standings for almost an entire season just to draft eighth would make this season skyrocket to the top of the list of disappointing years. But for the sake of everyone in Sacramento, let's hope that doesn't happen.