"My goodness" - From Stephen A. Smith to Melvin Gordon, NFL world rejoices Kings' epic underdog run vs Warriors in NBA Playoffs

The Sacramento Kings are having a wonderful run in the 2023 NBA playoffs, and everyone is taking notice, including NFL personalities.

The Kings won their postseason return 126-123 against the defending champion Golden State Warriors last Saturday. On Monday, they took a 2-0 lead in the series with a 114-106 win.

Even though the NFL may still be in its offseason, some of its biggest personalities still had time to watch the games. They all marveled at how the Kings have been playing:

How long was the Sacramento Kings' playoff drought, and what happened during that time span?

Before this season, the Sacramento Kings had not made the playoffs for 16 consecutive seasons. As of last year, this was the longest drought in all of North American professional sports, after the Seattle Mariners qualified for the MLB playoffs.

During that time, the Kings made some questionable roster moves, like drafting Tyreke Evans and Jimmer Fredette before Splash Bros Steph Curry and Klay Thompson respectively, Thomas Robinson before Damian Lillard, and Nik Stauskas before two-time MVP Nikola Jokic, as well as trading away potential franchise faces like DeMarcus Cousins and Isaiah Thomas.

They also changed owners and venues during the drought, with Vivek Ranadive buying the team from the Maloofs after a failed attempt to relocate the team to Seattle. Under Ranadive's ownership, however, the drought did not end until 2023, after the Kings hired coach Mike Brown, best known for coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers during LeBron James' first stint there.

Which NFL team currently has the longest postseason drought?

The New York Jets now have the NFL's longest active playoff drought

With the Sacramento Kings now in the playoffs, the New York Jets and the Buffalo Sabres now share the longest active playoff drought of 12 seasons. The former's is the longest active playoff drought in the NFL, beginning in 2011, and is the only double-digit one.

That drought is best known for 2012's Butt Fumble, in which quarterback Mark Sanchez ran into the backside of a teammate during a Thanksgiving loss to the New England Patriots. Interestingly, though, the Jets did not finish last in the AFC East that season - their first last-place season of that era was in 2014, but they would repeat that feat in two three-year stretches (2016-2018 and 2020-2022).

The Jets are currently attempting to end the drought by acquiring Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but so far talks have reportedly stalled. If the deal goes through, however, and Rodgers performs excellently, then they may be playing January football for the first time in a dozen years.