- Programming Note: Mark Jones' interview with Monte McNair will re-air during "Kings Pregame Live" 4:30 p.m. PT on Saturday before the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Monte McNair believes the Kings can reach even higher goals moving forward.
Speaking with NBC Sports California broadcaster Mark Jones, the Kings general manager explained what was going through his mind as Sacramento continued its run of inspired basketball in the first half of the 2022-23 NBA season.
"We never feel like we've gotten there until we win a championship, or multiple, and we hope to get there," McNair told Jones. "But at the same time, we're enjoying this run and we're seeing the successes that we would hope to see."
McNair added that the Kings are "hitting checkpoints" toward their goal of making the NBA playoffs and while the validation is "great" to him and the team, it does not necessarily mean Sacramento has accomplished anything yet in his eyes.
"We know we have a lot to do this year and going forward," McNair continued. "As we talked about, we want to get into the playoffs, this place is going to explode, sellout after sellout, beam after beam, all that's been great.
"We need to get to the playoffs -- it's going to be fantastic."
NBA
As it stands, the Kings are on track to make it to the playoffs for the first time in 16 seasons and are in line to host the sixth seed as currently, they are in the third seed (27-20) in the Western Conference.
And while it would be easy to give McNair the credit for helping turn the culture around in Sacramento, Kings coach Mike Brown deserves credit as well for the job he's done in making the players buy into what he is preaching.
In the end, as Sacramento continues to play well in the second half of the season and beyond, McNair embraces the added pressure that come with a successful franchise.
"And then we know the expectations are going to grow and we welcome that and we put ourselves in position, I think, to continue to do that and mold ourselves from a playoff team into a contender and hopefully, a title winner down the road," McNair concluded.
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With the roster McNair has assembled, it appears everything is falling into place at the right time for the Kings.
If this keeps up, Sacramento will be lighting the beam above Golden 1 Center more and more on the way to the playoffs and potentially, even further than fans could have expected.