The Sacramento Kings came into town like the Ghost of Christmas Past on Thursday night.
Magic fans certainly do not want to see their own franchise's future unfold in the form of the perennially sad-sack Kings. However, their visit _ coupled with Magic's recent rebuild _ could have given the Orlando faithful a bit of a chill.
The Kings are not just a running joke; they're the NBA franchise that has gone the most years without winning a title _ 65. And it doesn't mean anything to the folks in Sacramento since the Kings won that crown in Rochester, N.Y., in 1951 as the Rochester Royals.
The Kings are getting to be senior citizens in the championship-chasing business.
The Magic have begun their 28th season. It's as if they're graduate students _ no longer the young kid, but not old as sports franchises go.
As the Chicago Cubs just proved in an extreme case, it can take some time to win a title.
The Magic and their faithful pray it won't take 108 years to hold a parade like the Windy City did on Friday, but these things are unpredictable.
I mean, the 73-win Golden State Warriors? Seriously? Who saw that dominance coming?
Five seasons ago _ before winning their first title in 40 years in 2015 _ the Warriors were 20 games under .500. Now Kevin Durant doesn't mind working in Oakland. Who knew?
The Cleveland Cavaliers finally got their first and only banner after 46 seasons. And all it took to attain it last season was for their generational star, LeBron James, to leave _ and then come back.
The Cavs came off the waiting list of NBA teams who have never won a championship.
The list, beginning with the longest in line: Phoenix (49th season), L.A. Clippers (47th), Utah (43rd), Denver (41st), Brooklyn (41st), Indiana (41st), New Orleans (29th), Orlando (28th), Minnesota (28th), Memphis (22nd), Toronto (22nd) and Charlotte (13th).
(Footnotes: Before moving to OKC, Seattle won a championship in 1979 as the SuperSonics. As with the Kings' lone title, the Hawks won one when they were located in St. Louis in 1958.)
On that list of deprived teams, I can only see the Clippers and the Raptors as having any shot to watch the confetti fall in the coming years _ and it's a long shot.
The Clippers' problem in the West is Golden State and the Raptors' issue in the East is Cleveland.
For so long, the bumbling Clippers were the Cubs of the NBA.
They had reached the playoffs only seven times before Doc Rivers, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin got together. The Clips have miraculously passed the Lakers as a hoops product but now are running in place. Frankly, they need major misfortunate to befall the Warriors (and maybe San Antonio, too).
Toronto is enjoying its greatest success as a franchise. The Raptors better enjoy it because Canada will never be a free-agent destination, much like arctic Minnesota.
The Timberwolves entered the league the same season as Orlando (1989-90). While the Magic have been to the Finals twice, the T'wolves have had only one significant run as a franchise _ the Kevin Garnett Era.
But they are on the rise thanks to two young stars _ Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins _ and they better pounce.
Once upon a time, Orlando had a pair of stars named Shaq and Penny. They were actually better players than Towns and Wiggins, but we all know how that turned out.
The Magic were the quickest expansion team to reach the NBA Finals (1995) but lost Shaq. They didn't play for a title again until '09 after landing Dwight Howard. Those missed opportunities haunt them.
The Magic's track record says they need to draft a superstar to prosper. Maybe LeBron James Jr. will save the day. Junior is 11 and already attracting college scouts (much to Dad's chagrin).
The Magic have had to watch rival Miami _ the Heat entered the NBA in 1988-89 _ win three titles (all coming in the last 11 years).
There's no time-frame on winning a championship, and in Orlando, it's hard to see a parade on the horizon.
Can the Magic bring down Cubs/Red Sox curse-buster Theo Epstein to straighten out their team? (Hey, the Magic once hired a hockey guy as GM.)
You can only hope fans aren't still lamenting the loss of Shaq in, oh, 2096.
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