The Stockton Kings are an American professional basketball team of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

based in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

, and are affiliated with the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

. The Kings play their home games at the Adventist Health Arena and compete in the G League's Western Conference Pacific Division. The team began play during the 2008–09 season in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

, as the Reno Bighorns. They moved to Stockton and changed their name in 2018.

History

Reno Bighorns

The Reno Bighorns began play in the 2008–09 season with their home games at the Reno Events Center. Their namesake was the

desert bighorn sheep The desert bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis nelsoni'') is a subspecies of bighorn sheep (''Ovis canadensis'') that is native to the deserts of the United States' intermountain west and southwestern regions, as well as northwestern Mexico. The ...

, which is the state animal of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The Bighorns were primarily affiliated with the

, which has been with the team since its inception in 2008. Reno also had affiliations with the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

(2008–2009),

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

(2009–2010),

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

(2010–2011),

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

(2011–2012),

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division of the ...

(2011–2013), and the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

(2012–2013). During the 2014–15 season the Bighorns led the

NBA D-League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

in scoring and also in call-ups to the NBA with seven. The performance of the team and players like

Brady Heslip Brady Heslip (born June 19, 1990) is a Canadian former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for Baylor University and represents the Canadian national team. As of 2022, Heslip serves as the general manager for the Scarbor ...

, Tajuan Porter, and

Sim Bhullar Gursimrana Singh "Sim" Bhullar (born December 2, 1992) is a Canadian professional basketball player who last played for the Tainan TSG GhostHawks of the T1 League. He played college basketball for New Mexico State University and is the first pla ...

garnered media attention in not only the Reno area but also on a national scale with national outlets like ''

The Dan Patrick Show ''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and inde ...

'' and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

' '' The Late Late Show'' putting a spotlight on the team. Head coach David Arseneault Jr. and his offense, called "The System" were profiled by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in late February 2015 in an article that put a spotlight on the coach's innovative game plan that he helped to develop with his father at

Grinnell College Grinnell College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. It was founded in 1846 when a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalis ...

. On October 20, 2016, the Bighorns were purchased by their parent club, the

, after being affiliated with the team since its inaugural season. With the purchase, the Bighorns became the fifteenth D-League team to become directly owned by a parent club. The team slightly changed its logo the following season, changing the color scheme to match that of their parent team and adding a crown over the I to match it as well. The team moved after the 2017–18 season.

Stockton Kings

On April 9, 2018, the

revealed that they planned to move the club to

, to play in the

Stockton Arena Adventist Health Arena is an indoor arena in Stockton, California. It opened in December 2005 and seats a maximum of 12,000 fans. It is the home venue of the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League. Former tenants include the Stockton Heat of the Am ...

pending league approval. On April 17, the lease for the use of the arena was approved and the new team name was revealed as the Stockton Kings. The Kings announced their first head coach in Stockton as former

Northern Arizona Suns The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play as the Long ...

' head coach,

Tyrone Ellis Tyrone Ellis (born October 5, 1977) is an American-Georgian professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Las Vegas Aces of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). He is 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) t ...

on August 13. Ellis led the team to postseason appearance following the 2018–19 season, but the following season was curtailed by the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

while the Kings were in first place in the Pacific Division. Ellis then left the team in 2020 and the Sacramento Kings chose to not have their affiliate participate in the abbreviated single-site

2020–21 NBA G League season The 2020–21 NBA G League season was the 20th season of the NBA G League, the official minor league basketball organization owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season was indefinitely postponed following the previous season' ...

. On May 27, 2021, the Sacramento Kings appointed their assistant and player development coach, Bobby Jackson, as the next head coach of the Stockton team.

Season-by-season results

Current roster

Head coaches

NBA affiliates

Reno Bighorns

(2011–2012) *

(2010–2011) *

(2011–2013) *

(2008–2009) *

(2009–2010) *

(2008–2018) *

(2012–2013)

Stockton Kings

(2018–present)

References

External links

* {{California sports Basketball teams established in 2008 2008 establishments in Nevada Basketball teams in California