(Welcome back to our off-season series, “Just Wait ‘til Next Year!” in which special guest Jerry Reynolds and I bring you our 147 combined years to bring you our recollections of past Kings years.)
As the Kings entered their eighth season in Sacramento, searching for their second playoff berth, the Chicago Bulls were coming off back-to-back championships. The Bulls won a total of 128 regular season games over the past two seasons, the exact same number that the Kings had won over the past five seasons.
Let’s Kings Basketball!
Being a Kings’ season ticket holder meant having a great seat when Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Charles Barkley or Patrick Ewing came to town, but it also fortified that the local squad was really in a different league than a good many of the NBA teams. The Kings were the NBA’s Washington Generals, with one notable exception: the Kings were actually pretty formidable at home. This was an era where the Kings were truly the only game in town, and the locals continued to sell out the arena and sell out their vocal cords on a nightly basis. When the fans collectively stomped their feet, the whole place shook. The Kings managed a 21-20 home record the prior season (8-33 road). Yes, the 29-53 Kings of 1991-92 had a better home record than your 2024-25 play-in Kings (20-21). But I’m not bitter, and that’s the important thing.
The 1992 off-season began with the Kings hiring Garry St. Jean as their new head coach. St. Jean had all of the energy and charisma that prior head coach Dick Motta lacked (to be fair, the Jibboom Street Bridge had more energy and charisma than Motta), and he promised an up-tempo, exciting brand of basketball. The Kings used the 7th pick of the draft to select Walt Williams out of Maryland. “The Wizard” as he was known, rocked the knee socks long before they became an NBA fashion staple.
One of the biggest acquisitions that the Kings made was when they traded Vincent Askew for the 1993 second round draft pick that would become Mike Peplowski – stick a pin in this for next season.
The Kings started the season with an intriguing core: Richmond and Spud Webb made up the back court, with Randy Brown and Walt Williams behind them. Williams would also spend some time behind small forward Lionel Simmons. Duane Causwell and Wayman Tisdale were up front, with Anthony Bonner behind them. Rod Higgins, Jim Les and Pete Chilcutt rounded out the bottom of the rotation.
Oh, did I mention Kurt Rambis was a Sacramento King in 1992-93? Kurt Rambis was a Sacramento King in 1992-93. Good grief. What was next, Vlade Divac?
The Kings began the season 6-8 before losing eight straight. They then followed that with six straight wins, brining their record to 12-16, including back-to-back overtime ROAD wins. The Kings had fallen to 16-30, but Mitch Richmond was heading to his first All-Star game as the first Sacramento Kings All-Star representative. On February 11, a week prior to the All-Star game, Mitch Richmond attempted to steal the ball from Atlanta’ Mookie Blaylock, resulting in a broken thumb. Richmond would miss the All-Star game, as well as the rest of the season. The Kings would lose eleven of their next twelve and 8-27 after the Richmond injury. Not that the .362 winning percentage prior to the injury was a reason to prepare the ticker tape, but it was substantially better than the .229 mark that came after the injury. The consolation prize was seeing a bit more of Williams and Randy Brown.
The Kings were 12-12 at home with Richmond, 4-13 without. Suffice to say that this team was only as good Richmond’s back would carry them. They may have been only a 30ish win team with him, but they weren’t a 20ish win team without him. Batman? Robin? This was the Lone Ranger, and there was not a Tonto on the horizon.
Gregg Lukenbill was more than out of money at this point and sold the team to the Jim Thomas group. Lukenbill’s Kings would wind up with an aggregate winning percentage of .356 (prorates to 29-53 annually), the lowest of any Sacramento era owner. Lukenbill’s vision outpaced his financial support, and while it impacted the product that was on the floor, Lukenbill brought the major leagues to Sacramento. Modern day Kings fans will reference the efforts of Vivek Ranadive as it pertains to saving the Kings for Sacramento, but there is nothing to save if not for Gregg Lukenbill. A perfect man? Hell no. Who is? Deserving of a statue in the G1C Plaza?
You-Better-Go-Damned-Believe-It.
Reynolds’ Wrap
“ Another season and new ownership group. Sound familiar? Anyway, I have a few observations of changes made during the offseason. Jim Thomas, the majority owner made it known that he would not keep Dick Motta as coach and learning that, Dick resigned before season ended. His assistant, Rex Hughes took over and did a solid job the remainder of the season. Thomas wanted to form a selection committee and start the coaching search (yes we had one). Myself, Scouting Director Scotty Stirling, Team President Rick Benner along with Thomas were it. We interviewed five candidates. Two declined the opportunity. The five candidates were as follows: Rex Hughes, Del Harris, Garry St. Jean, Randy Pfund, Jon Wetzel. After two days of interviews, each twice, we made our selection. Three selected Harris and one for St. Jean. Later, St. Jean was named the next Kings coach. The one vote happened to be from Jim Thomas. Saint was a solid coach and great guy. However, it was now apparent to us how decisions would be reached. Just another dose of NBA reality! I do feel Harris, Basketball Hall of Famer, was the better choice.” – Jerry Reynolds
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1992-93 felt like an amuse bouche due to the Richmond injury. The Kings had a star, a head coach, some complementary players, and the seventh pick in the draft. I don’t hear a whistle, so that must be light at the end of the tunnel? Just Wait ‘til Next Year!