The Sacramento Kings are a National Basketball Association franchise based in Sacramento, California. The team’s visual identity has centered on royal imagery since the franchise’s early days, with the current primary logo built around a crown and basketball motif.
Design and History
The Kings’ current primary logo was officially unveiled on April 26, 2016 [1]. The design is an homage to the original logo the franchise used when it relocated to Sacramento in 1985, which itself was brought over from Kansas City with only the city name changed [1]. The 2016 rebrand retired the team’s previous shield-style logo and replaced it with a modernized version of the earlier crown-and-ball design [2].
The team’s official brand guidelines describe the new logo as drawing from the franchise’s “ambitious beginnings in Sacramento,” a period when the community first came together around the team [3]. The same guidelines reference a “refined crown and ball” as central elements of the primary mark [3].
Alongside the primary logo, the 2016 unveiling introduced a secondary logo featuring the initials “SAC” positioned between the ball and crown, as well as a lion logo [4][2]. The new identity was introduced ahead of the team’s move into the Golden 1 Center arena for the 2016-17 season [5].
The 2016 logo set was named a finalist for Logo of the Year by SportsLogos.net [2]. The franchise’s official brand guidelines, updated for the 2023-24 season, continue to designate the crown-and-ball mark as the team’s primary logo [3].
Meaning and Symbolism
The crown imagery directly interprets the franchise name, which dates to the team’s Kansas City era. The franchise was known as the Cincinnati Royals before relocating to Kansas City-Omaha in 1972, where the name was changed to the Kings [6]. The 2016 primary logo’s visual structure, with a crown above a basketball and the team name between them, recalls the design used when the franchise arrived in Sacramento in 1985 [1].
The team’s official brand guidelines describe the identity as rooted in “Sacramento Proud,” connecting the mark to the city and community rather than to abstract royal heraldry [3].
Typography and Design
The primary logo pairs the crown-and-ball symbol with the wordmark “Sacramento Kings” [3]. The team’s official brand guidelines specify that the primary logo should be used in most applications [3]. The 2016 redesign was described by SportsLogos.net as a modernization of the earlier design “for the digital age” [2].
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