The NBA’s longest active playoff drought reached historic lengths Thursday.
The Sacramento Kings needed a win and help to keep their slim play-in hopes alive. The San Antonio Spurs obliged by losing earlier in the night, but Sacramento couldn’t capitalize and lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 116-110. The Kings were officially eliminated from contention, extending their postseason drought to 15 years. It matches the Los Angles Clippers from 1977-91 for the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
“They scrapped. They fought. They competed and it was fun,” said Kings coach Luke Walton. “It was a fun game. Unfortunately, we made a few too many mistakes down the stretch. They made us pay. … Really proud of the guys. There was great energy. Great fight.”
The Kings played without four key rotation players, including leading scorer De’Aaron Fox, who missed his 11th straight game in the league’s health and safety protocols.
In search of a spark, unheralded second-year guard Justin James scored a career-high 31 points off the bench for the Kings. James’ previous career-high was 16 points, and he had scored in double figures just four times in 70 appearances.”I would be lying if I said this doesn’t feel different than any other loss,” James said. “Knowing that we’re out of the playoffs, it sucks for our fans, it sucks for our city, but we’ll be there one day.”
The Kings have not made the playoffs since 2005-06, the last season of Rick Adelman’s tenure. They went 44-38 behind Mike Bibby…
