Given how the rest of the season has gone, fans would think the Sacramento Kings would have last place in the bag. Instead, they're playing their best basketball of the season and winning games. Apparently, the Kings are also incredibly bad at tanking, not that it really matters that much.
Sacramento has been at the bottom of the NBA long enough that the concept of them being at .500 is completely foreign. This is the team that owns the longest losing streak of the season at 16 straight losses. The rest of the season wasn't that much better, other than a four-game win streak.
At the end of the big losing streak, the Kings had a record of 13 wins and 46 losses. They snapped that streak with a win against the Memphis Grizzlies on February 23rd. Since then, the Kings have been playing much better basketball. Well, by their standards, at least.
In the 11 games since the end of the losing streak, the Kings have had a record of six wins and five losses. Yes, you are reading that correctly. Sacramento has a record above .500 since ending that horrifying losing streak. It's great, just poorly timed if they're looking for a prime draft position.
Sacramento is tanking wrong
The way the NBA Draft Lottery works, the teams with the three worst records in the league have the best odds of getting the number one spot in the draft. It's roughly a 14% chance for each of those teams. Franchises in that position often start tanking late in the season to better their chances.
Keep in mind, there are no guarantees. It's just a 14% chance of getting that number one spot. The Mavericks only had a 1.8% of landing the number one pick in the 2025 Draft, yet they ended up with Cooper Flagg on their team. And that's after dropping the ball on Luka Doncic.
Sacramento is now the 26th seed, meaning they have won too much and have now slipped out of the worst three teams in the league list. The Kings no longer have the best odds of getting the number one pick. Again, that borderline means nothing, as they could still get the first pick or the 10th.
Honestly, it's better to see the younger Kings finding a rhythm and finishing the season strong. It bodes well for their growth and development individually and as a squad over the offseason, and into 2026-2027. Besides, Sacramento did some really good work with their second-round pick in 2025.