By Jason Jones | The Athletic, 2026-06-03 10:00:01
在NBA，有一个并不算神秘的俱乐部。它的成员包括自2013年维维克·拉纳戴夫 (Vivek Ranadivé) 的财团买下球队并阻止其搬迁至西雅图以来，所有为萨克拉门托国王工作过的人。
俱乐部的成员可能是前教练、球员、管理层或其他后勤保障人员。他们都有着相似的经历：每当你以为国王的荒唐事已经到头时，更荒唐的还在后面。
那些在萨克拉门托时相处不睦的同事，在离开后都会达成共识：那种怪诞的氛围总能制造出一些滑稽荒诞的局面。作为《萨克拉门托蜜蜂报》和《运动报》(The Athletic) 的跟队记者，我报道这支球队超过十年，因此有时也会被拉进那些已经不再负责球队日常工作的人的聊天群里。
这也正是为什么纽约尼克斯与圣安东尼奥马刺之间的NBA总决赛对决，会呈现出如此典型的“Kangz”式讽刺。（“Kangz”是球迷们用来调侃国王队近年霉运连连和管理混乱的流行词。）
前国王成员在帮助尼克斯和马刺杀入NBA总决赛的过程中都扮演了举足轻重的角色。达龙·福克斯 (De’Aaron Fox) 在2017年首轮第5顺位被选中后，曾被定位为萨克拉门托的建队基石——以至于手握2018年榜眼签的国王放弃了选择卢卡·东契奇 (Luka Dončić)。福克斯在去年被交易到了马刺。此外，2019年2月通过与达拉斯独行侠交易加盟的哈里森·巴恩斯 (Harrison Barnes)，在2024年被交易到马刺之前，一直是萨克拉门托阵中值得信赖的老将。
而在另一边，尼克斯的主教练则是迈克·布朗 (Mike Brown)，他也是2023年最后一位带领国王重返季后赛的主帅。
最近在萨克拉门托，看到前国王成员（或者像东契奇那样本可以成为国王球员的人）在季后赛大放异彩已经变得屡见不鲜。国王就像是真人秀节目里寻找真爱的嘉宾，却一次次选错伴侣，然后一刷社交媒体，发现那些被自己拒绝的嘉宾正与新伴侣过着幸福美满的生活。
到了这一步，萨克拉门托的这出戏简直是在重播，或者是重启。
迈克尔·马龙 (Michael Malone) 在2013-14赛季仅执教了国王106场比赛。2023年，他带领丹佛掘金夺得了总冠军。
泰雷斯·哈利伯顿 (Tyrese Haliburton) 作为国王在2020年选中的首轮秀，在2022年被交易，去年他距离带领印第安纳步行者夺冠仅差一场抢七大战。
如今到了2026年，福克斯、巴恩斯和布朗距离NBA总冠军都只差四场胜利。布朗有望带领纽约夺得自1973年以来的首个总冠军。而福克斯和巴恩斯则可以帮助圣安东尼奥拿到队史第六冠，也是自2014年（蒂姆·邓肯 (Tim Duncan)/托尼·帕克 (Tony Parker)/马努·吉诺比利 (Manu Ginobili) 时代的最后一冠）以来的首冠。
2025年：前国王后卫泰雷斯·哈利伯顿首次打进总决赛
2026年：前国王后卫达龙·福克斯首次打进总决赛 pic.twitter.com/TUZcNDZG3H
— Underdog (@ Underdog) 2026年5月31日
国王在2024年12月解雇了布朗，而就在一年前，他全票当选NBA年度最佳教练，并且是国王迁至萨克拉门托时期仅有的两位胜率过半的主帅之一，另一位是周一去世的名人堂成员里克·阿德尔曼 (Rick Adelman)。布朗在2022-23赛季带领国王的“点灯队”（Beam Team）夺得西部第三，随后在季后赛首轮与金州勇士鏖战七场遗憾落败。
但国王在2024年7月将巴恩斯交易到了圣安东尼奥（并同意在2031年进行无保护的首轮签互换），以便在一笔三方交易中得到德马尔·德罗赞 (DeMar DeRozan)。在布朗被解雇的后续风波中，福克斯不再愿意留在这样一支动荡不安的球队。2025年2月5日，福克斯在一笔涉及芝加哥公牛的三方交易中被送往马刺。国王则得到了选秀权，以及扎克·拉文 (Zach LaVine)——多年前拉文还是受限制自由球员时，拉纳戴夫就一直渴望得到他。
2023年的“点灯队”不复存在。国王变成了2020年代初期拉文和德罗赞时期公牛队的诡异翻版。
2023年的萨克拉门托国王队（图中包括40号哈里森·巴恩斯和达龙·福克斯）曾是西部季后赛的3号种子。如今，巴恩斯和福克斯已成为圣安东尼奥马刺的队友，正准备征战NBA总决赛。(Melissa Tamez / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
萨克拉门托在2024年的附加赛中出局。然而，国王仍然与布朗签署了续约合同。但对布朗的承诺并未持久，在经历13胜18负的开局后，他在圣诞节后两天便被解雇。
去年五月，布朗加盟了尼克斯——再看看现在的他。
一位前国王员工给我发短信，直言这些操作“简直蠢透了（f—–g stupid）”。考虑到国王过去20年在选秀、自由市场和教练聘用上的种种失误，这样的评价分量极重。
我们不能忘记，马刺的助理教练之一是科利斯·威廉姆森 (Corliss Williamson)，他曾是国王的球员和助理教练。在2016年乔治·卡尔 (George Karl) 执教期间的混乱局面中，球队曾考虑让威廉姆森担任临时主教练。当时那支球队已经对卡尔失去了信心——而卡尔也对管理层的行径感到目瞪口呆——但他们本有机会冲进西部前八，并且在威廉姆森的领导下本有可能重新振作。
然而，国王最终选择让卡尔继续执教——那支球队最终也无缘季后赛。
此外，布朗在纽约的首席助理教练是克里斯·詹特 (Chris Jent)，他曾是马龙教练组的助教，任职时间不足一个半赛季。马龙于2013年6月3日被聘用，詹特在一周后加入教练组。但国王在2013-14赛季仅取得28胜54负的战绩，在接下来的赛季打出11胜13负的开局后，马龙及其教练组便被解雇。
克里斯·詹特带领球员进行赛前动员 pic.twitter.com/9Xai2d6hTA
— New York Basketball (@ NBA_NewYork) 2026年5月6日
当地电台主持人兼国王死忠拥趸卡迈克尔·戴夫 (Carmichael Dave) 去年七月在X上开玩笑地发帖称尼克斯今年将在总决赛中对阵马刺。这难道是预言？也许吧。但任何关注国王足够久的人都知道，篮球之神总会对这支球队开一些残酷的玩笑。
对于萨克拉门托的球迷来说，事情发展成这样几乎是命中注定的。
要么是那位曾热爱留在萨克拉门托的主帅夺冠，让纽约街头陷入前所未有的狂欢热潮；要么是那位曾经的当家控卫和稳健老将，辅佐维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 在圣安东尼奥建立起新的统治王朝。
至于国王，他们再次回到了乐透区，而“Kangz”的霉运也再次降临。他们在与犹他爵士的同战绩抽签中落败，并在乐透抽签后，选秀顺位从第五顺位跌至第七顺位。
目前他们的薪金空间状况不容乐观，在今年休赛期进行任何操作之前，2026-27赛季的保障薪资已达约2.25亿美元。总经理斯科特·佩里 (Scott Perry)——他曾任职于尼克斯，去年重返国王——还有大量工作要做，才能让球队重新回到“点灯队”的上升轨道上。
至于那些前国王员工呢？他们会继续在远方默默摇头，一边关注着，一边等待着下一次降临在这支球队身上的“Kangz”式霉运。
由生成式人工智能翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：Why a Spurs-Knicks NBA Finals can be a frustrating reminder for Kings basketball
Why a Spurs-Knicks NBA Finals can be a frustrating reminder for Kings basketball
There’s a not-so-exclusive club in the NBA. It includes those who have worked for the Sacramento Kings since Vivek Ranadivé’s ownership group bought the team and kept it from relocating to Seattle in 2013.
Club members could be former coaches, players, executives or other support staff. They all share a similar tale: Just when you think things can’t get any weirder with the Kings, they will.
Colleagues who didn’t get along in Sacramento can agree after their departure that the weirdness makes for some zany situations. I covered the team for more than a decade as a beat writer for The Sacramento Bee and The Athletic, so I’m sometimes included in some of the chats among those no longer tied to the team on a daily basis.
Which makes the NBA Finals matchup between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs such a “Kangz” situation. (“Kangz” is a popular way among fans to refer to the team when highlighting their recent history of bad luck and mismanagement.)
Former Kings have played prominent roles in helping both the Knicks and the Spurs reach the NBA Finals. De’Aaron Fox was positioned to be Sacramento’s franchise player after being drafted fifth in 2017 — so much so that the Kings, who had the No. 2 pick in the 2018 draft, didn’t select Luka Dončić. Fox was traded to the Spurs last year. Also, Harrison Barnes, acquired via a trade with the Dallas Mavericks in February 2019, was a reliable veteran presence in Sacramento until he was traded to the Spurs in 2024.
On the other side, the Knicks are coached by Mike Brown, the last coach to lead the Kings to the playoffs in 2023.
It’s become too common lately in Sacramento to see a former King (or, as with Dončić, someone who could have been a King) flourish in the postseason. The Kings are the reality-show contestants looking for love, only to keep picking the wrong partners, then logging on to social media and seeing the contestants they shunned living happy, fulfilling lives with new partners.
At this point, that Sacramento show is a rerun. Or a reboot.
Michael Malone was the head coach for only 106 Kings games from 2013-14. He won a championship with the Denver Nuggets in 2023.
Tyrese Haliburton, the Kings’ first-round pick in 2020, was traded in 2022 and was a Game 7 away from winning the title last year with the Indiana Pacers.
Now in 2026, Fox, Barnes and Brown are four wins away from an NBA championship. Brown can lead New York to its first title since 1973. Fox and Barnes can help San Antonio earn its sixth title and first since 2014, the last title of the Tim Duncan/Tony Parker/Manu Ginóbili era.
2025: Former Kings Guard Tyrese Haliburton makes his first Finals
2026: Former Kings Guard De’Aaron Fox makes his first Finals pic.twitter.com/TUZcNDZG3H
— Underdog (@ Underdog) May 31, 2026
The Kings fired Brown in December 2024, a year after he was the unanimous NBA Coach of the Year and one of two Kings coaches in the Sacramento-based era with a winning record, the other being Hall of Famer Rick Adelman, who died on Monday. Brown led the Kings’ “Beam Team” to a third-place finish in the Western Conference standings during the 2022-23 season before losing a first-round playoff series to the Golden State Warriors in seven games.
But the Kings traded Barnes to San Antonio in July 2024 (and agreed to an unprotected pick swap in 2031) to make it possible to add DeMar DeRozan in a three-team deal. In the fallout of firing Brown, Fox was no longer comfortable sticking with such an unstable franchise. Fox was traded Feb. 5, 2025, to the Spurs in a three-team deal with the Chicago Bulls. The Kings acquired draft picks, as well as Zach LaVine, a player Ranadivé had wanted years earlier when he was a restricted free agent.
The Beam Team of 2023 was no more. The Kings were a weird reconstruction of the LaVine-DeRozan Bulls of the early 2020s.
The 2023 Sacramento Kings, featuring Harrison Barnes (40) and De’Aaron Fox, were the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Now, Barnes and Fox are San Antonio Spurs teammates preparing to play in the NBA Finals. (Melissa Tamez / Icon Sportswire via Associated Press)
Sacramento lost in the Play-In Tournament in 2024. The Kings, however, still signed Brown to a contract extension. The commitment to Brown didn’t last, as he was fired two days after Christmas following a 13-18 start.
Brown landed with the Knicks last May — and look at him now.
One former Kings employee texted me that the moves were “f—–g stupid,” and that’s saying a lot, given the Kings’ history of blunders in the draft, free agency and coaching hires over the last 20 years.
We can’t forget that one of the Spurs’ assistant coaches is Corliss Williamson, a former Kings player and assistant coach who the team considered making the interim head coach in 2016 amid the chaos of the George Karl tenure. That team checked out on Karl — and Karl was flabbergasted by the organization’s ways — but had a chance to finish in the top eight in the West and might have rallied under Williamson’s leadership.
The Kings, instead, kept Karl in charge — and that team missed the playoffs.
Additionally, Brown’s associate head coach in New York is Chris Jent, a former assistant on Malone’s staff for less than a season and a half. Malone was hired on June 3, 2013, and Jent joined the staff a week later. But the Kings finished 28-54 record that 2013-14 season, and after an 11-13 start the following season, Malone and his staff were let go.
Chris Jent leads the pregame huddle pic.twitter.com/9Xai2d6hTA
— New York Basketball (@ NBA_NewYork) May 6, 2026
Local radio personality and longtime Kings fan Carmichael Dave jokingly posted on X last July that the Knicks would play the Spurs in the finals this year. Was it a premonition? Perhaps. But anyone who has been around the Kings long enough knows to expect the basketball gods to play a cruel joke on the franchise.
To Sacramento fans, of course this is how it would turn out.
Either the coach who loved being in Sacramento will win a championship and turn the streets of New York into a celebrating frenzy unlike any we’ve seen, or the presence of the franchise point guard and steady veteran will help Victor Wembanyama establish a new reign of dominance in San Antonio.
As for the Kings, they’re in the lottery where the luck of the Kangz struck again. They lost a coin flip with Utah in a tiebreaker and fell from fifth to seventh in the draft order after the lottery.
Their salary-cap situation is bleak as it stands with approximately $225 million committed to 2026-27 before making any moves this offseason. General manager Scott Perry — formerly of the Knicks who returned to the Kings last year — has a lot to do to get the team back on the Beam Team’s trajectory.
And all those old Kings employees? They’ll continue to collectively shake their heads and await the next big run of Kangz luck that will befall the franchise as they watch from afar.
By Jason Jones, via The Athletic