From Chris Webber’s legendary dominance to Darius Acuff Jr.’s promising arrival, discover how a pipeline of Detroit talent continues to shape the franchise’s past, present, and future.
Scott Perry, Darius Acuff Jr. and Chris Webber are a trio of Detroit natives at the heart of the Sacramento Kings' past and present.
Perry and Acuff are building toward the future, while Webber helped set the standard in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The present wants to replicate the past's success to give the fanbase something they've missed for years.
Webber played under legendary coach Rick Adelman, who led the Kings to eight consecutive playoff appearances from the 1998-99 to 2005-2006 seasons. He made four straight All-Star appearances and made five straight All-NBA teams.
The Kings legend had a career season in 2000-01, averaging a personal-best 27.1 points on 48.1% shooting and grabbing 11.1 rebounds. Webber helped the team reach the second round, and the eventual back-to-back champion Los Angeles Lakers swept them.
Sacramento bounced back with its deepest postseason run in franchise history next season. Adelman and his squad advanced to the Western Conference Finals and stood in the Lakers' path to a three-peat.
Webber averaged 25 points across six games, and his two-way dominance helped push the series to a Game 7.
Game 7, what most fans believe are the greatest two words in sports, lived up to its expectations. Mike Bibby, the team's leading scorer with 29 points, knocked down the game-tying free throws, sending the game into overtime.
Bibby's efforts weren't enough to push the Kings over the Lakers, as they lost the quarter 12-6.
Perry is rebuilding the Kings, aiming to break a three-season playoff drought and win its first series since 2006. He chose Acuff as his franchise cornerstone to lead the team out of the rebuild and become a perennial playoff team.
Sacramento's preference to select Acuff with the No. 7 overall pick was the worst-kept secret. Everybody knew, and Detroit was the connection that brought them together.
Perry coached his father at Eastern Kentucky in the 1990s. It's almost as if fate preordained Acuff's landing with the Kings.
He's the fourth guard Sacramento drafted in the lottery since De'Aaron Fox in 2017. Fox, Tyrese Haliburton and Davion Mitchell were all traded.
Acuff is the franchise's opportunity to write its wrongs, develop a franchise guard and remain committed to them. The rookie offers a perfect balance of winning games and prioritizing his development.
He led the SEC in scoring (23.5 points per game) and assists (6.4 per game) as a freshman at Arkansas, the first to do so since Pete Maravich in the 1970s.
Detroit, Michigan, has a special place in the Sacramento Kings' history and will continue to grow in the Acuff-Perry era.
