It was November and the Sacramento Kings were acting as if it were June.

For 17 1/2 years, the Kings' treks to face the Los Angeles Lakers at the Forum had been as effective as Wile E. Coyote's attempts to drop an anvil on the Road Runner. The Kings had arrived wearing the names of three different cities, but it never mattered.

The streak began on March 28, 1975, when they were the Kansas City-Omaha Kings. It continued when they became the Kansas City Kings in 1975-76. It became a national embarrassment after they moved to Sacramento in 1985.

When the Kings showed up in Los Angeles on Nov. 8, 1992, they had lost 43 straight road games to the Lakers, by far an NBA record. But something monumental happened that Sunday, five days after Bill Clinton had come out of nowhere to be elected president.

The Lakers finally were felled. The Kings won 124-114, touching off a wild celebration.

"It was like we'd won the championship, the way guys were jumping up and down," said guard Mitch Richmond, who, then in his second Kings season, scored 29 points. "The guys who had been through it a while were really elated, but everybody had heard so much about it. It was a big monkey off our backs."

The NBA's longest active ape belongs to the Nuggets. They will bring a 20-game road losing streak against the Kings into Sunday's game at Arco Arena.

Perhaps it's poetic justice. Of the five longest current road skids in the NBA, three are at Sacramento, with the Clippers and Memphis tied for fourth, each having lost 17 straight.

Denver last won at Sacramento 109-96 on Jan. 7, 1997, a little more than a decade ago. But for the Nuggets to knock the Kings out of the record book, they'd have to go another dozen or so years without a win.

That's how futile the Kings were when it came to venturing into the Lakers' den.

"They were the Yankees of the NBA," Kings director of player personnel Jerry Reynolds said of facing the Lakers back then. "It wasn't necessarily that we expected to win when we had Harold Pressley matched up against James Worthy, LaSalle Thompson guarding Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) and Kenny Smith dogging Magic (Johnson)."

Reynolds witnessed more losses during the streak than anybody. He attended many games in Kansas City while coaching nearby Rockhurst College from 1975-84 and Pittsburg State in 1984-85. He was hired by the Kings before their initial 1985-86 season in Sacramento, and has been head coach, assistant and an executive since then.

The Lakers' regular toying with the Kings drew national attention on Feb. 4, 1987, at the Forum, which Reynolds calls the "lowest point" in Sacramento Kings history. In consecutive loss No. 30, the Kings fell behind 29-0 and trailed 40-4 after the first quarter.

The Lakers called off the pit bulls early and won 128-92. But the Kings had tied an NBA record at the time for fewest points in any quarter, and their record for fewest points in a first quarter stood until Denver managed just three on Nov. 27, 2002, at San Antonio.

"It was tough," said Phil Johnson, then the Kings coach and now a Utah assistant. "They had just lost to Dallas and they were fired up and ready to go and we couldn't match what they were doing. That first quarter was a nightmare."

So was Johnson's experience after the game. Johnson, who in an earlier stint had been the Kings coach when they last won at the Forum and when the streak began, was fired and replaced by Reynolds.

Reynolds couldn't get Sacramento any road wins against the Lakers in two coaching stints over four seasons. By 1992-93, it was Garry St. Jean's turn.

In just his second game as Kings coach, St. Jean pulled it off. It was a watered-down Lakers team that would finish 39-43, but it was a win nonetheless.

"I earned a tall, cold beverage," St. Jean said.

St. Jean would go on to become the Kings coach who got the 20-game streak started against Denver with a 105-100 win March 5, 1997. But he also was the last Kings coach to lose at home to the Nuggets.

"At least one half of it is good," St. Jean said of his link to a pair of NBA futility streaks.

Watching every penny

The Nuggets brought in three swingmen last Sunday for workouts, but they are holding off on any signings. Seems these are taxing times.

Denver still has a chance to finish the season just under the luxury-tax threshold of $65.4 million. But a scenario exists in which the Nuggets could sign a player to a 10-day contract, and that small amount of money ends up putting them over the tax line and costing them plenty.

If the Nuggets end up having to pay the dollar-for-dollar tax, they will forgo an initial distribution of $2 million to $3 million to each nontaxpaying team. Losing that money just to bring in a deep reserve would be a huge price to pay.

But Denver's flirtation with the tax soon could become moot. If center Marcus Camby, who has played in 50 of 59 games, reaches 65, he would earn contract bonuses that make it virtually impossible for the Nuggets to avoid the tax.

If that happens, the Nuggets, carrying just 13 players, might be more willing to sign someone. Candidates include Von Wafer, Luke Jackson and Joe Shipp, who worked out, and Casey Jacobsen, playing in Germany.

The Nuggets could sign a player for the rest of this season with a team option for next season. That would give them a chance to keep the player during the summer and provide him a coveted nonguaranteed contract piece for a possible trade.

Viva summer league

There were mixed reviews about how the All-Star Game went in Las Vegas. But there isn't much debate about the city continuing as the league's primary summer league site.

League executive director Warren LeGarie said the NBA is now a partner in the Vegas Summer League. LeGarie said he has 20 teams, including the Nuggets, committed for the fourth year, up from 16 last year.

But the NBA has been concerned about the popularity of the Vegas Summer League killing off the Rocky Mountain Revue in Salt Lake City. So LeGarie has been working with some teams to have them play in both Las Vegas and Salt Lake City.

Skid marks

The NBA's longest active losing streaks in one city:

G Visitor Home team Dates (so far) Next game

20 Nuggets Sacramento March 5, 1997-Feb. 3, 2007 Sunday

19 Milwaukee Phoenix March 20, 1988-Dec. 1, 2006 Next season

18 Golden State San Antonio Nov. 19, 1997-Dec. 4, 2006 April 7

17 L.A. Clippers Sacramento Jan. 5, 1998-Nov. 28, 2006 March 30

17 Memphis* Sacramento Feb. 7, 1999-Nov. 15, 2006 Next season

*Team was in Vancouver, British Columbia, for first six games of streakSource: Elias Sports Bureau

tomassonc@RockyMountainNews.com

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