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The Sacramento Kings is a professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California, United States. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association. The Kings are the only team in the Major professional North American sports leagues located in Sacramento; they play their home games at Sleep Train Arena.
The Kings can trace their origins to a local semi-professional team based in Rochester, New York in the early 1920s. The team was officially established professionally in the National Basketball League in 1945 as the Rochester Royals. The Royals defected to the NBL's rival, the Basketball Association of America, in 1948. In 1949, as a result of that year's absorption of the NBL by the BAA, the Royals became members of the newly formed NBA.
The Royals were often successful on the court, winning the NBA championship in 1951. However, they had trouble turning a profit in the comparatively small market of Rochester, and relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1957, becoming the Cincinnati Royals. In 1972, the team relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, initially splitting its games between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska, and taking up the name Kansas City Kings. The team again failed to find success in its market, and moved to Sacramento in 1985. After the San Antonio Spurs lost the 2013 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat in seven games, the Kings are now the only franchise to never trail in a single NBA Finals series.
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