Chants of “SAC-RA-MENTO” rained down from the very top row of Golden 1 Center back on April 30 even though the Sacramento Kings fell in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series to the Golden State Warriors. This is because the past year was one of the most successful in team history and Kings fans couldn't be more proud of their team.

What the Kings achieved as an organization during the 2022-23 season will forever live in team lore, as they finally snapped what had become a 16-season playoff drought and they have very quickly put themselves on notice as one of the better teams in the league. In fact, inexperience may have been the only thing holding them back from taking down the defending NBA champions in this playoff series!

Mike Brown did a fantastic job in his first season as the head coach of the franchise, Domantas Sabonis has continued to solidify himself as one of the best big men in the entire league and the leap De'Aaron Fox made during his sixth NBA season was vast. Fox has rapidly gone from a young player raising eyebrows to being a household name across the basketball world.

Now, he may be ready to fully take that next step towards stardom with the Kings, as the All-Star and All-NBA guard could put his name in the running for one of the league's top awards. Sacramento knows what their star guard is capable of and having to face him every day in practice, third-year guard Davion Mitchell knows that Fox can take home the league's Most Valuable Player award.

“Man, De'Aaron. I seen something like he was a top-five MVP candidate. I think it's definitely true,” Mitchell said on the Deuce and Mo podcast. “He's running the team, he's talking more… He's being a leader. We already know what he can do on the floor, he's playing defense more, he's guarding the best players, he's doing that type of stuff. And when you got a player like that at that level, playing a lot of minutes, a young player, I think we're going to be tough to beat.”

This offseason, the Kings retained their entire core group, which is made up of a ton of youthful, growing talents. Sacramento is only going to get better and already being a tough team to beat, they could end up with one of the best records in the league this upcoming 2023-24 season.

As long as Fox is on the floor, the Kings have a chance to beat any other team in this league. This is why the 25-year-old guard is on the MVP radar and why he has a chance to do something special in Sacramento for many years to come.