Editing Sacramento Kings (section)

===1972–1985: Kansas City–Omaha/Kansas City Kings{{anchor|Kansas City–Omaha Kings}}===
After moving to Kansas City, the Royals renamed themselves the '''Kings''' to avoid confusion with the [[Kansas City Royals|Royals]] baseball team. Now dubbed the '''Kansas City–Omaha Kings''', the team split its home games between the 7,316-seat [[Municipal Auditorium (Kansas City, Missouri)|Municipal Auditorium]] in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] and the 9,300-seat [[Omaha Civic Auditorium]] in [[Omaha, Nebraska]].

The <!-- then- -->Cincinnati Royals had been looking at Omaha as a market as early as 1968, playing twelve "home games" in Nebraska from 1968 to 1971.<ref>Two previous NBA games had been held in Omaha: one between the then-[[Atlanta Hawks|Milwaukee Hawks]] and the [[Rochester Royals]] (the future Kansas City Kings) in 1954, and one between the [[Atlanta Hawks|St. Louis Hawks]] and the [[San Francisco Warriors]] in 1965.</ref> From [[1972–73 Kansas City–Omaha Kings season|1972]] to [[1974–75 Kansas City–Omaha Kings season|1975]], the KC–Omaha Kings played a total of 42 regular season contests (but no playoff games) in Omaha. In 1975, the club became simply the [[Kansas City Kings]] (moving into the new 16,785-seat [[Kemper Arena]] the [[1974–75 Kansas City Kings season|previous season]]). The team did not abandon Omaha completely, playing <!--ten more in 76-77--> several games there through the [[1977–78 Kansas City Kings season|1977–78 season]].<ref name=ktdch/><ref name=kwiot77/><ref name=ggpmk/> For the next two seasons, they played several home games in [[St. Louis]].

====1972–1976====
[[File:Nate Archibald 1974.jpeg|thumb|[[Nate Archibald]] led the NBA with 34.0 points and 11.4 assists per game in the [[1972–73 Kansas City–Omaha Kings season|1972–73 season]].]]
The team netted a new superstar in point guard [[Nate Archibald]], who led the league in scoring and assists in the [[1972–73 Kansas City–Omaha Kings season|1972–73 season]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nba.com/history/legends/profiles/nate-archibald|title=Legends Profile: Nate Archibald|work=NBA.com|access-date=January 7, 2017|archive-date=September 4, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904204323/http://www.nba.com/history/legends/profiles/nate-archibald|url-status=live}}</ref>

While still in Cincinnati, the team introduced a most unusual uniform design, which placed the player's surname below his number. The design remained intact through the first several seasons of the team's run in Sacramento, even when the shade of blue on the road uniforms was changed from royal blue to powder blue, and the script '"Kansas City"' which adorned the road jerseys was scrubbed after the move in favor of a repeat of the "Kings" script on the home shirts. The Kings' back jersey template was later adopted by the [[Women's National Basketball Association|WNBA]] and the [[NBA Development League]], as well as the NBA during the [[NBA All-Star Game|All-Star Game]] since 2006.

The Kings had some decent players throughout. [[Tom Van Arsdale]], the shooting forward, "Jumpin" Johnny Green, and [[Matt Guokas]] helped Archibald in the first year in Kansas City. [[Toby Kimball]] was a fan favorite. [[Jimmy Walker (basketball, born 1944)|Jimmy Walker]] teamed with Archibald as the Kings made the playoffs the second year. Sam Lacey, an effective passing center, became one of the most dependable players in the league. Archibald became the first player to lead the league in scoring and assists in the first season in Kansas City. However, the management traded Archibald and wasted high draft picks. Bob Cousy gave way to [[Phil Johnson (basketball, born 1941)|Phil Johnson]], who was fired midyear in 1977 and replaced by [[Larry Staverman]], a player on the team on two separate occasions when it was in Cincinnati (Staverman coached for a brief time and then resigned in May 1981 to take up the role of team president's assistant for the [[Cleveland Browns]]).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/06/sports/transactions-112908.html |title=Transactions - The New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 6, 1981 |accessdate=January 13, 2022 |archive-date=December 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211201061952/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/06/sports/transactions-112908.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

====1976–1984====
The Kings finally achieved some success in their new home when they hired [[Cotton Fitzsimmons]] as coach. Fitzsimmons won the Midwest Division in 1978–79 with rookie point guard [[Phil Ford (basketball)|Phil Ford]], who was [[NBA Rookie of the Year]] in 1979. Kansas City was led by shooting guard [[Otis Birdsong]], strong on both offense and defense, all-around shooting forward Scott Wedman, and passing center [[Sam Lacey]], who had a trademark {{convert|25|ft|m|adj=on}} bank shot. They drew an average of 10,789 fans to [[Kemper Arena]] that season, the only time during their tenure in KC that average attendance was in five figures (the attendance at the peak was only two-thirds of Kemper's capacity). The Kings later played several home games in St. Louis during the early 1980s to large crowds. Most Kansas City sports fans preferred to spend their entertainment dollar on the Royals, who won the American League West division championship four times in five seasons between 1976 and 1980, and reached the [[1980 World Series]].

The Kings made the playoffs in [[1979–80 Kansas City Kings season|1979–80]] and again in [[1980–81 Kansas City Kings season|1980–81]], despite finishing the 1980–81 regular season at {{winpct|40|42|record=y}}. The Kings made a run in the [[1981 NBA playoffs]], reaching the Western Conference finals; these were the franchise's first playoff victories since 1964, and their only ones ever in Kansas City. [[Ernie Grunfeld]] played the point in this run in place of an injured Ford, as KC used a slow half-court game to win the first two rounds. Power forward Reggie King had a remarkable series, dominating the opposition. They then faced the [[Phoenix Suns]] in the Conference Semifinals and won three of the first four games before having to withstand consecutive victories by the Suns to force a [[List of NBA game sevens|Game 7]] that saw them prevail 95–88 to become the first #5 seed to eliminate a #1 seed and also the second road team to win a Game 7 after leading 3–1. They then faced the [[1980–81 Houston Rockets season|Houston Rockets]], also 40–42 in the regular season, but lost in five games in the Conference Finals. Lacey, the last remaining Cincinnati Royal to play for the Kings, could not keep up with Rockets superstar center [[Moses Malone]]. (The Kings did not win another playoff series for two decades.)

However, a series of bad luck incidents prevented the team from building on its success. [[Cleveland Cavaliers]] owner [[Ted Stepien]] lured Wedman and Birdsong away with big contract offers. In 1979, the roof literally fell in at Kemper Arena because of a severe storm, forcing the team to play most of the 1979–80 season at the much smaller Municipal Auditorium. The ownership group sold the team to [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] interests for $11 million. The general manager was fired in a scandal in which he was found to be reusing marked postage stamps.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Story Of The Most Bizarre Scandal In NBA History {{!}} The Touchback |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f7v7gWSr1o |access-date=February 23, 2024}}</ref> When the Kings rehired [[Joe Axelson]] as general manager, they brought back the man who had previously traded Oscar Robertson, Norm Van Lier, Nate Archibald and Jerry Lucas, and used the third pick in the [[American Basketball Association|ABA]] dispersal draft on [[Ron Boone]]. Axelson stayed on after the Kings left Kansas City where, in their last game ever, fans wore Joe Axelson masks. Axelson later said he hoped his plane would never touch down in Kansas City.

Axelson became the first general manager in the history of sports to fail with the same franchise in four cities: Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha and Sacramento. He was not fired for good until he rehired coach Phil Johnson, whom he had fired in mid-season in Kansas City ten years before. The Kings also entered this period competing with the [[Kansas City Comets (1979–1991)|Kansas City Comets]] of the [[Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992)|Major Indoor Soccer League]] (MISL) for the winter sports dollar, when the Comets were led by marketers—the Leiweke brothers. Their final season in [[1984–85 Kansas City Kings season|1984–85]] resulted in a {{winpct|31|51|record=y}} record, as fans stayed away from Kemper Arena in droves, with average attendance of 6,410. Long-time ABA and NBA star, [[Don Buse]], played his final professional season for the Kings.

Ownership began looking for a new home for the team. Poor attendance and lack of sponsorship dollars (the team was third in sports market share by a significant margin behind the NFL's Chiefs (even though they went 14 consecutive seasons without a playoff berth, covering the Kings' entire stay in Kansas City) and MLB's Royals) were the main reasons. Also, Kansas City had a much stronger following for the [[Kansas Jayhawks]] and [[Missouri Tigers men's basketball|Missouri Tigers]] college basketball teams than they did the NBA's Kings.

The franchise was sold for $10.5 million on June 8, 1983, to a six-man, [[Sacramento, California]]-based investment group led by Joseph Benvenuti who had a 50% interest and [[Real estate development|real estate developer]] Gregg Lukenbill who was the managing partner. The new ownership group honored the remaining two years of the Kings' [[lease]] with [[Hy-Vee Arena|Kemper Arena]] which expired in June 1985 but also had a five-year option that eventually was never exercised.<ref>[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/08/The-Kansas-City-Kings-of-the-National-Basketball-Association/9348423892800/ Gosselin, Rick. "The Kansas City Kings of the National Basketball Association...," ''United Press International'' (UPI), Wednesday, June 8, 1983.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227110939/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/08/The-Kansas-City-Kings-of-the-National-Basketball-Association/9348423892800/ |date=February 27, 2022 }} Retrieved February 27, 2022.</ref> A $12-million conversion of an 82,000-square-foot [[warehouse]] into what would become the [[ARCO Arena (1985)|first ARCO Arena]] was announced on October 15, 1984.<ref>[https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/16/The-owners-of-the-Kansas-City-Kings-say-they/1704466747200/ "The owners of the Kansas City Kings say they...," ''United Press International'' (UPI), Tuesday, October 16, 1984.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227110940/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1984/10/16/The-owners-of-the-Kansas-City-Kings-say-they/1704466747200/ |date=February 27, 2022 }} Retrieved February 27, 2022.</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/12/sports/kansas-city-may-lose-kings.html "Kansas City May Lose Kings," ''The New York Times'', Saturday, January 12, 1985.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227110937/https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/12/sports/kansas-city-may-lose-kings.html |date=February 27, 2022 }} Retrieved February 27, 2022.</ref> The transfer of the Kings to Sacramento was officially approved by NBA team owners on April 16, 1985, with the only contingency being the construction of an [[Sleep Train Arena|arena seating more than 16,000]].<ref>[https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-04-17-8501220559-story.html Moulton, Dan. "NBA Approves Kings' Move to Sacramento," ''Chicago Tribune'', Wednesday, April 17, 1985.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227110937/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-04-17-8501220559-story.html |date=February 27, 2022 }} Retrieved February 27, 2022.</ref>