2001–02 Sacramento Kings season

The 2001–02 NBA season was the 53rd season for the Sacramento Kings in the National Basketball Association, and their 17th season in Sacramento, California. During the off-season, the Kings acquired Mike Bibby from the Vancouver Grizzlies, who had recently relocated to Memphis, Tennessee.

Despite Chris Webber missing the first 20 games of the regular season due to a preseason ankle injury, the Kings won 17 of their first 22 games, then posted a 12-game winning streak between December and January, as the team held a 37–12 record at the All-Star break. The Kings won eleven straight games near the end of the regular season, finishing in first place in the Pacific Division with a 61–21 record (.744 winning percentage), the best record in the league, and earning the #1 seed in the Western Conference. The team won their Division for the first time since the 1978–79 season, when the team was in Kansas City, Missouri; the Kings also made the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the 1980–81 season (also as the Kansas City Kings).

Webber averaged 24.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.4 blocks per game in 54 games, as he was named to the All-NBA Second Team. In addition, Peja Stojaković finished second on the team in scoring averaging 21.2 points per game, while Bibby provided the team with 13.7 points and 5.0 assists per game. In addition, Doug Christie averaged 12.0 points and 2.0 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, while Vlade Divac provided the team with 11.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, sixth man Bobby Jackson also contributed 11.1 points per game off the bench, and second-year forward Hedo Türkoğlu averaged 10.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game also off the bench.

During the NBA All-Star weekend in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Webber and Stojaković were both selected for the 2002 NBA All-Star Game, and Stojaković won the NBA Three-Point Shootout. Webber also finished in seventh place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Jackson finished in second place in Sixth Man of the Year voting, and head coach Rick Adelman finished in second place in Coach of the Year voting.

In the 2002 NBA playoffs, the Kings defeated the Utah Jazz three games to one in the Western Conference First Round, and defeated the Dallas Mavericks four games to one in the Western Conference Semi-finals, despite losing Stojaković to an ankle injury in Game 3, which the Kings won on the road, 125–119.

In their first trip to the Western Conference finyals, the Kings faced off against the 3rd-seeded and 2-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, who were led by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. The Kings would take a 3–2 series lead over the Lakers, but went on to lose the final two games in one of the most controversial playoff series in NBA history; Game 6 was the most controversial game of the series with the calls made by the referees, and with the Lakers winning, 106–102 at the Staples Center. The Lakers would then go on to defeat the New Jersey Nets in four straight games in the 2002 NBA Finals, winning their third consecutive NBA championship.