Warriors and Kings growing a rivalry?
Gary Gerould has witnessed 10 playoff appearances in his 33 years as the Sacramento Kings’ radio play-by-play voice, the last of which was a first-round exit against San Antonio in 2006.
More than a decade of lottery trips, locker-room turmoil and staff turnover only worsened a devoted fan base’s appetite for something, anything, to cheer. At 78 years old, even Gerould — by nature, friendly and upbeat — was getting tired of all the losing.
“This hot start has rejuvenated me, personally,” Gerould said. “It’s exciting because you start finding yourself hope a little bit.”
Roughly a third of the way through the season, a Kings team that Las Vegas projected to win no more than 26 games sits firmly in the Western Conference playoff picture at 15-12. That 12 of Sacramento’s players are still on their rookie contracts only emboldens fans’ expectations for the future. Friday night, when the Kings host the Warriors at Golden 1 Center, some might wonder what it would be like if Northern California’s two NBA teams were both nationally relevant.
This matchup has long been ripe for a rivalry. In addition to boasting raucous home crowds, Sacramento and Golden State play only 88 miles apart. There is also the matter of familiarity: Kings principal owner Vivek Ranadive is a former Warriors minority owner who has tried to follow Golden State’s template since taking over Sacramento in 2013.
Quoting a league source, ESPN reported last year that Ranadive has an “unhealthy fixation on the Warriors.” Only after the Kings implemented a Golden State-like offense this season — in which the tempo is ratcheted up, three-pointers are encouraged and positions are largely ignored — did they start to thrive.
Sacramento, which has won five of its past seven games, ranks second in the league in pace and is tied for fifth in scoring. In Wednesday’s victory over Minnesota, the Kings rang up 141 points and made a franchise-record 19 threepointers.
Marvin Bagley, 19, and De’Aaron Fox, 20 — perhaps the two most promising members of Sacramento’s young core — have brought flair and speed to a once-lackluster lineup.
Buddy Hield has yet to live up to Ranadive’s billing as the next Stephen Curry, a comparison the owner reportedly made in 2017, but Hield is spacing the floor in new ways. To average a team-best 18.6 points per game, he has shot 47.5 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from three-point range and 83.3 percent from the foul line.
“You could see they were getting better last year, but I think they’re doing better than anyone expected,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said.
As the only major professional franchise in town, the Kings are the sole torchbearers for the Sacramento area’s 2.1 million residents.
In the early 2000s, when Chris Webber led the team into the playoffs annually, Kings flags were hung throughout the city. Even as the losses mounted in recent years, fans studied draft prospects in hopes of a better future.
“The city goes as the Kings go,” said former NBA player Matt Barnes, who spent his formative years in Sacramento and had two stints with the Kings before winning a championship with the Warriors in 2017. “When they were great with C-Webb and those guys, it was definitely a different kind of energy and a different atmosphere.”
As far as possible rivalries go, Kings-Warriors is light on highlights. They have never faced each other in the playoffs. Asked to name his most memorable game between the teams, Gerould picked one — Klay Thompson’s 37-point quarter in January 2015 — that didn’t exactly reflect well on Sacramento.
The reason is simple: These two franchises haven’t been good at the same time.
When the Kings ruled the West with the Lakers, Golden State was toiling through a 12-year playoff drought. Over the past half-decade, as the Warriors built a dynasty, Sacramento was mired in a lengthy rebuild. When the Kings faced the Warriors at Oracle Arena on Nov. 24, it was the first meeting in which both teams had winning records.
“The thing that’s interesting is that, even though the Kings were struggling, the games between these two teams have been close and very competitive in recent years,” said Rafe Wong, editor of Fan-Sided’s Kings blog, “A Royal Pain.” “I think it’s because there is that rivalry aspect to it.”
Entering Friday’s matchup, Sacramento is eighth in the Western Conference standings while Golden State is percentage points behind Denver for the top spot.
Gerould, whose more than three decades calling games for the Kings have made him a skeptic, points to Sacramento’s schedule — its next 12 games are against winning teams — when voicing caution about its postseason chances. Still, he sometimes finds himself imagining what a first-round game at Golden 1 Center against the Warriors would mean for his city.
“Man,” Gerould said, “how awesome would that atmosphere be?”