Who Is The Longest Tenured Sacramento King?

The Kings have been in Sacramento since 1985. Which player has played the most games for the Kings in that span, and who is currently the longest-tenured King?

Over the last two and a half years, Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac has completely overturned the team’s roster. The beginning of the overhaul came with the trade of DeMarcus Cousins, a move made to change both the culture and the direction of the franchise.

With this summer’s departures of Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos, the current longest-tenured King is now Buddy Hield. Since being acquired in the DeMarcus Cousins trade, Hield has played 187 games in a Kings uniform, 33 more than De’Aaron Fox who is now second on the list.

But who is the player who has played the most games overall for the Kings in the Sacramento era?

Since arriving in the California capital in 1985, the Kings have had a handful of notable seasons and memorable players. When speculating the question of who was a King the longest, one would gravitate towards one of the greats, right? Is it Peja Stojakovic? Or maybe Mike Bibby? How about Cousins?

The distinction goes to a man who donned the purple and black 541 times. Drafted 12th overall, he played over 14,000 minutes for Sacramento over seven long seasons. He shot 27 three-pointers in that span, and he even made one.

He would go on to play for the Golden State Warriors, a member of a team that would win an NBA record 73 games in the regular season. Last season, he averaged 22.6 points to go along with a league-leading 14.9 rebounds and led the Sichuan Blue Whales to an 11-35 record in CBA China.

That’s right. Jason Thompson is the man who has more games under his belt as a Sacramento King than any other player.

Sam Lacey, who played for both the Cincinnati Royals and Kansas City Kings, is the franchise leader for games played with 888. He is followed by Jack Twyman and Oscar Robertson. Jason Thompson is 8th on the all-time list.