The Sacramento Kings haven’t finished a season with a winning record since 2006. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2004. And now, after the blockbuster trades of Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns and Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks, the Western Conference’s current No. 3 seed’s path to continued success just got more difficult.
While it’s easy to sit here and point fingers at what went wrong with the Brooklyn Nets, the Kings might actually be the biggest losers of Durant and Irving finding new teams.
This isn’t to say the Kings, thanks to De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, won’t continue their winning ways. It’s just that Durant and Irving on other West contenders — two teams just behind Sacramento in the standings — complicates those matters.
After the Durant and Irving deals, NBA fans felt terrible for the poor Kings.