Because of their poor form for almost 2 decades, the Sacramento Kings have been the punching bag of the NBA for the longest time. Playing in California, the Kings have unfortunately been overshadowed by the 3 other teams in California, who have found more success than them in recent years. But even during their glory years as contenders, they still found themselves at the end of shots.
One of the most famous, and harshest insults to the Sacramento Kings came from none other than wrestling legend and Hollywood megastar Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson during an episode of WWE Monday Night Raw in 2003. This was during the build to his match with fellow WWE legend ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.
The Rock, who was playing a villain at the time, announced that he would be conducting a ‘Rock Concert’ in Sacramento, where he would play songs on the guitar. One of the first songs was aimed at making fun of Sacramento. And one line in the song aimed at the Sacramento Kings drew an irate reaction from the crowd.
https://twitter.com/clutchpointsapp/status/1506973862419914757
“I’ll be sure to come back when the Lakers beat the Kings in May!”
The Rock was poking fun at the Kings losing to the Los Angeles Lakers for the last 3 years in the playoffs. In 2000 and 2001, the Kings were eliminated in the first round and swept in the second round of the NBA playoffs respectively. But things had reached a tense level between the two cities in 2002 when the Lakers won a controversial 7-game series against the Kings to reach the NBA Finals.
The Rock got a massively negative reaction from the fans, because of how heated the rivalry had been between the Kings and the Lakers. Their run in the 2000s was the last time the Kings posed any threat as a contender in the NBA. Since then, they have been a floundering team, and the Kings currently have the NBA’s longest playoff drought, currently going at 16 years without a playoff appearance.
