Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA) were formerly known as the Rochester Royals, Cincinnati Royals, the Kansas City-Omaha Kings, and the Kansas City Kings. While the Kings were created first as a semiprofessional team in 1923 with the Rochester Seagrams, their professional roots began in 1945 with their arrival in the National Basketball League, where it won the title in their first season. They joined the Basketball Association of America in 1948, with the league soon rebranding itself as the NBA. The Royals won the NBA title in 1951. After reaching the postseason ten times in twelve professional seasons, they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1957. After fifteen years of mediocrity, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1972, for which they played games in Kansas City and in Omaha, Nebraska. After thirteen years of mediocrity, they moved to Sacramento, California in 1986. An attempt to change ownership by way of selling the team and moving to Seattle failed in 2013. Vivek Ranadivé purchased the team later that year.
Starting in 2006–07 through the 2021–22 season the Kings set an NBA record in futility with 16 consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance, breaking old record of 15 playoff-less seasons that was compiled by the Los Angeles Clippers between 1976–77 and 1990–91. Every single one of those seasons saw them finish below .500, which is also a record. Since 1945, the team has reached the postseason just 33 times, with 11 in Sacramento and 10 in Rochester.
They have not reached the NBA Finals in 71 years (a record), have not reached a Conference finals in twenty seasons (tied for 5th for most seasons in history), and have not won a playoff series in eighteen seasons (tied for a record).
As one of the original eight NBA teams, they have the most losses in league history.