Best Draft Pick In Sacramento Kings History

The Sacramento Kings have been part of the NBA since 1948, having operated as the Rochester Royals, Cincinnati Royals, Kansas City-Omaha Kings, and since 1985 as the Sacramento Kings. In nearly eight decades of basketball, the franchise has produced two of the most legendary players the sport has ever seen, both of whom played before the team settled in California.

Nate "Tiny" Archibald, selected 19th overall in the second round (there were only 17 teams at that time) of the 1970 NBA Draft out of the University of Texas at El Paso by the Cincinnati Royals, is the secondary candidate for the team’s best draft pick. While his stature made him look more like a ballboy than an elite NBA player, Archibald provided the Royals with a presence much bigger than his 6’1”, 160lb frame. In his third season with the team and first in Kansas City-Omaha, Archibald averaged 34 points and 11.4 assists per game, becoming the only player in NBA history to lead the league in both scoring and assists in the same season. Archibald spent six seasons with the franchise, earning four All-NBA Team honors and three All-Star Game appearances. 

When it comes to the Kings’ best draft pick in franchise history, Oscar Robertson earns the honors. 

A two-time high school state champion with Indiana’s Crispus Attucks Tigers, Robertson relocated to Cincinnati to play college basketball for the Bearcats. While a national championship would elude him, despite making back-to-back appearances in the Final Four, Robertson lit the college game on fire, winning three scoring titles, three first-team All-American honors, and three National College Player of the Year awards. 

The NBA at that time operated a territorial draft system, allowing franchises to claim local college stars in exchange for surrendering their first overall pick. The Cincinnati Royals used that rule in 1960 to claim Robertson, who was widely considered the greatest college player since Wilt Chamberlain. 

In his first NBA game, Robertson finished with a stat line that he would become synonymous with, recording a 21-point, 12-rebound, and 10-assist triple-double. As a rookie, Robertson averaged 30.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 9.7 assists, winning Rookie of the Year and leading the league in assists. In his second season, Robertson averaged a triple-double for the entire year with 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists, an accomplishment so rare that it would not be matched for over fifty years, until Russell Westbrook achieved it in 2017. Throughout the course of his first five seasons, Robertson's cumulative averages were 30.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 10.6 assists, essentially averaging a triple-double for half a decade.

While Robertson’s individual numbers were impressive, the Royals could not muster anything more than a couple of playoff series victories.  Over ten seasons in Cincinnati, Robertson averaged 29.3 points, 10.3 assists, and 8.5 rebounds per game, winning the MVP award in 1964, with ten consecutive All-Star appearances, and nine All-NBA First Team selections (he added a second team honor in 1970). 

He was eventually traded to Milwaukee in 1970 in a shocking move, where he paired with Lew Alcindor to win the franchise's first championship in 1971. 

While Archibald was extraordinary, Robertson created the blueprint of what a point guard could be, putting up numbers that were far ahead of his time. Regardless of which city the franchise called home, Robertson owns the title of the team’s best draft pick of all time.