SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Two major droughts were broken this year in California, making a splash on the basketball court and in the reservoirs.
The Kings host the Warriors on Saturday night for game one of the first round of the NBA playoffs, marking the Kings first playoff appearance since 2006.
All star play from point guard De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, a breakout season from rookie Keegan Murray and leadership from new head coach Mike Brown led the Kings to their first winning record, playoff appearance, and Pacific Division title since the 2002/03 season.
Interestingly enough, California’s wet season lines up with the NBA season. California typically picks up it’s first storm of the year in October, coinciding with the tip off of the 82 game NBA schedule.
The regular season wraps up in April which is also when California’s rainy season begins to taper off.
When comparing Sacramento's precipitation totals to the Kings last 16 seasons, it hasn’t been the most fruitful period for the city.
Looking at the average point differential over the last 16 seasons, the Kings have been near the bottom almost every year and have not ended the season with a positive differential since 2006.
During the same period, Sacramento has only received above–average rainfall in three years – 2010/11, 2016/17, and 2018/19.
While drought conditions are obviously based on more than just rainfall in Sacramento, it is certainly a testament to how dry it has been.
California experienced two of its worst droughts in history since the Kings last made the playoffs, one from 2012-2016 and the other just recently wrapping up, beginning in 2020.
The last six months has brought tremendous change to Sacramento, in terms of both weather and basketball.
Although the Kings got off to a very slow start by losing their first four games, they quickly turned it around.
The weather followed a similar trajectory. October was dry and November was below-average in terms of rainfall for Sacramento before the rain and snow really ramped up in December and is just now starting to slow down in April.
Hopefully the Kings can continue to make it rain.
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