SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Sacramento Kings are in territory they haven't seen in 16 years. The Kings are poised to bust the longest playoff drought in NBA history this season.
As it stands now, the Kings are the second seed in the Western Conference.
They need four more wins, as of Sunday, to clinch a top-6 seed for the playoffs. However, that number could drop if the 7th seed team loses, so there's some variability as to which game will be the "drought buster."
Current odds for seeding from Basketball Reference already predict the Kings are heading to the playoffs. FiveThirtyEight is also predicting the playoff drought ends this season.
The last time the Kings made the playoffs was in 2006 when they lost to the San Antonio Spurs. The first game was played on April 21 with the series ending on May 4 in Sacramento.
While there are still plenty of games to play, four is the main number. Once they clinch their playoff spot, the remainder of the games will essentially decide which seed they'll end up with.
A top four seed translates to home court advantage in the first round of the playoff games -- a longtime coming to a devoted fanbase.
So far, the Kings have been making history in other ways as they chase a playoff berth. The Kings hit 40 wins for the first time since the 2005-2006 season, when they last when to the playoffs, and Domantas Sabonis recently surpassed Otis Thorpe for the most rebounds in a single season during the Sacramento era.
Sabonis also has the franchise record in double doubles at 57, and De'Aaron Fox became the first Kings player since Nate "Tiny" Archibald and Oscar Robertson to have eight straight games where he scored more than 30 points earlier this season.
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