The Sacramento Kings will make a formal bid to host the 2022 or 2023 NBA All-Star Game. The Kings, along with the City of Sacramento, Visit Sacramento, and the Sacramento Economic Council, will make a formal announcement on Thursday, February 22nd.

Sacramento Kings Chairman Vivek Ranadivé said the following via a team release:

Golden 1 Center has been a great spark for the city and building on that momentum we have assembled an unprecedented plan to host a global celebration of basketball at the All-Star in Sacramento. We are looking forward to sharing the details of our bid on Thursday and presenting to the NBA on Friday.”

In an October 2016 Sacramento Bee article, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was quoted as saying

“My personal view is that all new arenas should have the opportunity to host an All-Star Game,” Silver said. “We are absolutely determined to figure it out.”

However in that same article it was made clear that Sacramento was “thousands” of hotel rooms short of NBA standards for an All-Star weekend. The Kings had previously discussed the idea of using cruise ships in the Port of Sacramento to increase capacity. It’s unclear if the Kings are still pursuing this or if they’ve come up with an alternate solution.

The Kings have a long road ahead of them before this becomes a reality, but it would be great to see the Golden 1 Center and the city of Sacramento in the national spotlight for a positive. And hey, who knows, by 2022 we may have a few players worthy of playing in the All-Star game.