The 10 greatest Sacramento Kings in history, ranked by Player Efficiency Rating (PER)

3. DeMarcus Cousins

After years of not making the playoffs, the Sacramento Kings selected DeMarcus Cousins with the fifth pick in the 2010 draft. The Kings desperately needed some talent and star potential. 

Cousins delivered that throughout his seven seasons with the team, averaging a double-double in five of those seasons and over 20 points in four. Accordingly, the center made four All-Star teams and three as a King. 

Cousins’ talent did not bring winning basketball to Sacramento, however. In all his seasons there, the team never made the playoffs. Early in his career as a King, Cousins ran into some trouble, like disagreeing with coach Paul Westphal, as well as being suspended for confronting a color commentator, something deemed unprofessional behavior by the Kings and technical fouls. 

Nevertheless, he turned into one of the few greats of the Sacramento era, becoming the first King since 2004 to make an All-Star team in 2015. At the 2017 trade deadline, he was eventually sent to the New Orleans Pelicans along with Omri Casspi for Tyreke Evans, Buddy Hield, and Langston Galloway. 

Cousins spent the majority of his career in Sacramento and has largely impacted the franchise. With a rating of 22.4, he is the third-greatest King in franchise history when it comes to Player Efficiency Rating.