1997–98 Sacramento Kings season

The 1997–98 Sacramento Kings season was the 49th season for the Sacramento Kings in the National Basketball Association, and their 13th season in Sacramento, California. The Kings received the eleventh overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and selected shooting guard, and French basketball star Olivier Saint Jean out of San Jose State University, and also selected point guard Anthony Johnson out of the College of Charleston with the 39th overall pick; Saint Jean would later on change his name to Tariq Abdul-Wahad after converting to Islam the previous year. During the off-season, the team signed free agent Terry Dehere, and undrafted rookie center Michael Stewart from the University of California. Rookie power forward Lawrence Funderburke out of Ohio State University, who was drafted by the Kings as the 51st overall pick in the 1994 NBA draft, but went to play overseas in Greece and France, made his debut in the NBA this season.

With the addition of Funderburke, Johnson, Abdul-Wahad, Dehere and Stewart, the Kings got off to a 5–9 start to the regular season, and then posted a six-game losing streak between November and December afterwards. The team won 8 of their 14 games in January, and later on held a 20–28 record at the All-Star break. At mid-season, the Kings traded Michael Smith, and Bobby Hurley to the Vancouver Grizzlies in exchange for former Kings forward Otis Thorpe, and second-year guard Chris Robinson. However, with a 24–29 record as of February 17, 1998, the Kings struggled losing 26 of their final 29 games of the season; the team posted a seven-game losing streak between February and March, suffered a 12-game losing streak between March and April, and then posted another seven-game losing streak to close the season; Mitch Richmond missed twelve games late in the season due to a sore right knee injury. The Kings finished in fifth place in the Pacific Division with a 27–55 record, which was fourteen games behind the 8th–seeded Houston Rockets; the team also set a record of fifteen consecutive losing seasons under .500 in winning percentage.

Richmond averaged 23.2 points, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game, led the Kings with 130 three-point field goals, and was named to the All-NBA Third Team. In addition, Corliss Williamson showed improvement becoming the team's starting small forward, averaging 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while Billy Owens provided the team with 10.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, and Funderburke played a sixth man role off the bench, averaging 9.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game, but only played 52 games due to injury. Meanwhile, Thorpe averaged 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 27 games after the trade, Johnson contributed 7.5 points and 4.3 assists per game, and Olden Polynice provided with 7.9 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf contributed 7.3 points per game off the bench, but only played just 31 games, missing the final three months of the regular season due to the flu, and an corneal ulcer, while Dehere provided with 6.4 points and 2.5 assists per game, Abdul-Wahad contributed 6.4 points per game, and Stewart averaged 4.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

During the NBA All-Star weekend at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, Richmond was selected for the 1998 NBA All-Star Game, as a member of the Western Conference All-Star team; it was his sixth and final All-Star appearance. In addition, Richmond also participated in the inaugural NBA 2Ball Competition, along with Ruthie Bolton-Holifield of the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs, and Stewart was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Western Conference Rookie team. Richmond finished in 15th place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Williamson finished in second place in Most Improved Player voting, behind Alan Henderson of the Atlanta Hawks.

The Kings finished 25th in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 605,443 at the ARCO Arena II during the regular season, which was the fifth-lowest in the league. For the first time since moving to Sacramento, the team failed to sell out a home game at the ARCO Arena II on November 6, 1997, ending their 497-game sellout streak.

Following the season, Richmond and Thorpe were both traded to the Washington Wizards, after Richmond spent seven seasons with the Kings. Meanwhile, Owens and Polynice both signed as free agents with the Seattle SuperSonics, whom Polynice used to play for, Johnson signed with the Atlanta Hawks, Stewart signed with the Toronto Raptors, Abdul-Rauf left to play overseas in Turkey, and head coach Eddie Jordan was fired.