Sacramento Kings fans deserve credit. Since the exciting time when Chris Webber and his pals almost took the franchise to the NBA Finals, there are unfortunately very few reasons to be happy. Before this enchanted parenthesis brutally closed by the Los Angeles Lakers (and the referees), the Kings were already an organization that did not have the best reputation. Mitch Richmond, a member of the Hall of Fame, wore the Kings’ colors between 1991 and 1998.
His account of his arrival at Sacto in the Habershow speaks volumes.
In 1991, when Richmond left four years at Golden State in the explosive “Run TMC” trio with Tim Hardaway and Chris Mullin, the Warriors traded him to Sacramento against Billy Owens, the No. 3 in the Draft that year. .
“I went to see GM Don Nelson and said, ‘I know you traded me. Just tell me it’s not at the Sacramento Kings.’ He said it did. thanked, I turned around and it was one of the worst days of my life.
When I got to Sacramento, the first thing I heard from one of the players was ‘Welcome to hell’. Then Spud Webb sat down next to me and said, ‘Dude, I don’t wish anybody to get here, but I’m glad you’re here with me.’
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Shortly after his arrival, the Kings face the Warriors, the team he just left, in Oakland. Not yet ready to play, Mitch Richmond learns that the Kings have lost … 61 points.
“I started crying, telling myself that there was no way I was here. I called my agent. I didn’t know the league rules. I said, ‘Is that that there is a way for me to announce my retirement and actually go play elsewhere?
The next day, we had practice at 10:30 am. I show up at 9 o’clock, just to see the area a bit, to arrive early. I enter the locker room, no one. At 10 o’clock, no one. 10:30 am, no one. Randy Brown finally arrives and says, ‘Hey man, we’ve got two days off.’ What ? Two days off? We lost 61 fucking points! Oh my God…
I decided that this season I would not do my hair. I wouldn’t do anything. We trained for 30 minutes in training that season. And we sucked. Really bad. Meanwhile, the newspapers only talked about the Warriors. I cried all year. It was hard, really hard “.
Mitch Richmond eventually spent 8 years in Sacramento, until the Kings traded him for … Chris Webber. Somehow, he will have contributed to the interim recovery of the franchise.
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