Kings–Warriors rivalry

The rivalry takes geographic influence as the two teams share the Northern California region since San Francisco and Sacramento are approximately 86 miles apart.

[14] Both teams had historically been two of the oldest franchises in league history, with the Kings having been founded in 1923 as the Rochester Seagrams.

The Kings endured unstable ownership during the same stretch of time; relocating to Cincinnati in 1957, Kansas City and Omaha in 1972, and finally to Sacramento in 1985; joining the Warriors as the two NBA franchises splitting the Northern California Market.

On November 28, Malik Monk on the Kings hit a game-winning jumper to defeat the Warriors 124–123 to secure a spot in the NBA In-Season Tournament quarterfinals.

The Warriors managed to rebuild the franchise during the late 2000s in the form of drafting future star players such as Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green.

It was after the hiring of head coach Steve Kerr that the Warriors began a famed dynasty through the late 2010s and early 2020s; winning four championships.

[20] It began with the hiring of former Warriors' assistant Head Coach Mike Brown in 2022 that helped return the team to their first postseason appearance in 16 years,[21][22][23] winning their first division title since 2003 in the process.

[24] The two teams met each other in the postseason for the first time; in the opening round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs,[25][26] however; the Warriors had come off of the prior season as defending champions.

[28] Despite the Warriors experiencing numerous injuries to star players such as Draymond Green, they managed to defeat the Kings in 7 games.

[29][30][31] The series drew the highest first- and second-round playoff TV ratings for the NBA since 1999, with game 7 peaking at 11.9 million viewers on ABC.

Kings' DeMarcus Cousins (left) and Warriors' Andrew Bogut (right), during a Kings–Warriors regular season game in 2013