What's changed since the Kings' last playoff appearance in 2006?
SACRAMENTO — The Sacramento Kings are on the verge of clinching a playoff spot and ending the longest active playoff drought in NBA history — and the longest active postseason drought across the four major North American sports.
The Kings had a chance to clinch a top-6 seed in the Western Conference, avoiding the NBA's play-in tournament, as early as Sunday — and they didn't even have to take the court. Sacramento would have clinched if the Golden State Warriors defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in their Sunday night matchup, however, Minnesota pulled out the win.
Now, Minnesota has a chance to delay the Kings' playoff chances another night as they face off with Sacramento at the Golden 1 Center on Monday night. The Kings, just one win away, have the opportunity to end their historic playoff drought at home in what would likely be a sold-out crowd of cowbells and "Light The Beam" chants.
The last time the Kings were in the playoffs was in 2006. They were eliminated in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs 4-2 on May 5, 2005. That year also marked the last time Sacramento posted a winning season — a streak that the Beam Team officially ended this season as they are knocking on the door of a long-awaited postseason bid.
A lot has changed since the glory days of the Sacramento Kings in the early aughts. Here's a look at how the world was different during that 2006 playoff appearance.
Kings all-star De'Aaron Fox was 9, and rookie Keegan Murray was 5
The Sacramento Monarchs still existed and won the WNBA title the year prior
Kobe Bryant had his 81-point game that January
Tower Records was just about to go defunct
The Westfield Downtown Plaza was still open where DOCO and the Golden 1 Center now sit
Arnold Schwarzenegger was months away from being reelected as Governor of California
Heather Fargo was Mayor of Sacramento
George W. Bush was serving his second term as U.S. President
The U.S. was three years into the Iraq War
iPhones didn't exist
The top three songs of 2006, per Billboard magazine, were "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter, "Temperature" by Sean Paul, and "Promiscuous" by Nelly Furtado
After "retiring" with 2003's "The Black Album," hip-hop icon Jay-Z was nearing a comeback with November 2006's "Kingdom Come" album
The highest-grossing film of 2006 was "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
The Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn't a thing
Pluto was still considered a planet
Twitter had not yet officially launched
Facebook was not yet open to the general public
Instagram was not a thing
Dave Chappelle had just walked away from "Chappelle's Show" a year prior
Blu-ray discs were just about to release worldwide
"The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was still alive. He was killed by a stingray in September 2006
Google was nearing a purchase of YouTube
The Xbox 360 and Playstation 2 were the current gaming consoles. The PS3 was months away from release
France's Zinedine Zidane headbutted Italy's Marco Materazzi in the chest in the 2006 World Cup final that July
