Latest Kings Stories
Posted: Nov 6th 2009 4:13 PM ET by Tom Ziller (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Kings, NBA Injuries

What a night for
Kevin Martin. The dynamic guard for the Kings -- and currently the league's No. 3 scorer -- learned Thursday morning his sore wrist was actually a fractured navicular bone, a pretty brutal injury in terms of risk and recovery. Sources tell FanHouse Martin was strongly recommended by at least two doctors (including Sacramento's team doctor and a separate hand specialist) to undergo reparative surgery or to put the in a cast for 6-8 weeks. The franchise, however, left the decision to Martin, who kept a third option -- play through it wearing a soft cast -- open temporarily.
Martin told reporters he'd sleep on it and make a decision Friday. Sanity has prevailed over machismo, and Martin told the
Sacramento Bee's Sam Amick today that
playing with a soft cast has been ruled out. Martin will either put a hard cast on the arm, or undergo surgery.
Posted: Nov 5th 2009 6:45 PM ET by Tom Ziller (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Kings, NBA Injuries, NBA Police Blotter, NBA Transactions

The Kings, seeking a defensive veteran for the small forward position, took on
Desmond Mason in advance of training camp. That didn't turn out so well: Mason has been beyond awful on offense (surprising no one who has watched Mason play at any point over the past four years) and didn't make much of a difference for the league's 29th ranked defense.
Five games was enough for the Sacramento front office, as
the team waived Mason a day after signing former Blazer and Spur
Ime Udoka to a non-guaranteed minimum salary contract. Like Mason, Udoka is known for his defensive skill, having been signed as a sort of
Bruce Bowen replacement two summers ago. That didn't really work out, and Udoka was left teamless for opening day after Portland waived the swingman at the end of the preseason.
Posted: Nov 4th 2009 9:30 AM ET by Rob Peterson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Jazz, Kings, Lakers, Mavericks, Nuggets, Spurs, NBA Videos

Looking back at the first week of the 2009-10
NBA season, someone missed a golden opportunity for a Halloween costume.
Wouldn't it have been great if two
Lakers fans had gone as
Shannon Brown and
Josh Powell with the fan who was Brown holding onto a rim (a Nerf rim would have been fine) and sitting on Powell's shoulders?
"Whatever do you mean, Professor Stinkface?"
You know what I mean. Video after the jump.
Posted: Nov 3rd 2009 11:30 AM ET by Rob Peterson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Kings, Spurs, NBA Injuries

When it comes to protecting yourself from rabies, it seems as if hand sanitizer won't cut it.
San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili -- three-time NBA champ, Olympic gold medalist, NBA All-Star, exterminator extraordinaire and
scourge of PETA -- has been required to get
shots for rabies, the
San Antonio Express-News reports
, because of his quick reflexes and a chance encounter with a bat on Saturday night:
Ginobili took four shots Monday in the hip and arm, and he is scheduled for four more such sessions over the next month. "It was pretty funny at the time," Ginobili told the San Antonio Express-News. "Now it's not. I got like a million shots for rabies."
Posted: Nov 1st 2009 3:52 PM ET by Chris Tomasson (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Grizzlies, Kings, FanHouse Exclusive

DENVER -- Forget about a Tar Heel against a Dukie or a Kentucky Wildcat against a Louisville Cardinal. This is a lot different.
On Monday night in Sacramento, an Israeli player could face a player from a rival Middle East Muslim nation for the first time ever in the
NBA.
Kings forward
Omri Casspi is the first man from Israel ever to play in the NBA, and has three games under his belt. His team at Arco Arena next plays Memphis, which features center
Hamed Haddadi, a second-year man from Iran.
Before his
Grizzlies met Denver on Sunday night, Haddadi told FanHouse he never has faced an Israeli player on the court because teams from his Iran, which does not recognize the Jewish nation, are not allowed to play Israel. In 2005, Haddadi said his Iranian team was not allowed to go to Argentina for the 2005 FIBA World Championship for Young Men because of the possibility of Israel being an opponent.
But Haddadi has no problems with facing Casspi.
Posted: Oct 31st 2009 8:32 PM ET by Tom Ziller (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Hornets, Kings

Freaky Friday in NOLA. The greatest point guard in the world --
Chris Paul. A festive atmosphere, the home opener for the
Hornets.
Tyreke Evans, rookie point guard for the
Sacramento Kings, had a big challenge ahead. Never mind he was coming off an underwhelming debut Wednesday in Oklahoma City. For the 20-year-old wolf in wolf's clothes, this was the proverbial uphill battle.
And though it didn't end with glass slippers or even confetti, Evans proved he belongs in the
NBA.
Posted: Oct 30th 2009 2:30 PM ET by Elie Seckbach (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Kings, Euroleague, NBA Videos
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

When the
Sacramento Kings opened the season against the
Oklahoma City Thunder earlier this week, rookie
Omri Casspi officially entered the
NBA history books as the first Israeli player to play in the
NBA. In his first game, Casspi looked good, dropping 15 points (7-9 from the field) in just 19 minutes of action. In this FanHouse video we talk to Caspi and several of his former teammates from Israel's champion Maccabi Tel Aviv. We also hear from Tony Gaffney, who now plays in Israel and worked out with Casspi all summer, about Casspi's competitive nature.
Check out the video after the jump.
Posted: Oct 19th 2009 4:00 PM ET by Matt Steinmetz (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Kings, NBA Preseason

SACRAMENTO --
Sacramento Kings coach Paul Westphal continues to maintain he hasn't yet settled on a starting small forward. He talks of possibly using either
Kevin Martin there or perhaps rookie
Tyreke Evans.
But that's only if he decides to roll out a smaller lineup that would include
Beno Udrih as the starting point guard. Westphal has even suggested that rookie
Omri Casspi is in the mix, saying he likes Casspi's hustle and competitiveness.
And Westphal also claims he hasn't ruled out
Andres Nocioni -- despite acknowledging that he likes Nocioni off the bench. But if you've been watching the
Kings in the preseason, it's starting to seem apparent who's going to get the nod for the regular-season opener against Oklahoma City:
Desmond Mason.