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Aug 27, 2023

Light the beam! Everything you need to know about Kings' unique victory celebration

The Sacramento Kings outlasted the defending champion Golden State Warriors in a

The Sacramento Kings outlasted the defending champion Golden State Warriors in a thriller on Saturday night, 126-123, to capture their first playoff game since 2006 and take a 1-0 lead in this intriguing first-round series. But even after the final buzzer sounded, Sacramento fans knew that the day's work was not yet done.

De'Aaron Fox, who finished with 38 points and five assists in another stellar performance, walked over to center court where Kings owner Vivek Ranadive was waiting next to a purple button. As the crowd counted down from five in unison, Fox smashed the button, sending a giant purple laser beam into the night sky above Golden 1 Center.

Take a look:

.@vivek and @swipathefox light the first beam of the playoffs 🔦🟣  @raleys | #FeelTheRoar pic.twitter.com/9mxq1Pbfu3

The beam had been lit.

This has been a thrilling season in Sacramento. The Kings exceeded expectations to not only make the playoffs for the first time since 2006, ending the longest postseason drought in major North American professional sports, but claim the No. 3 seed in uber-competitive the Western Conference. Their underdog story and exciting, fast-paced style of basketball made them perhaps the most well-liked team in the league, a status that was bouyed by their unique victory celebration.

"Light the beam" has become a season-defining mantra in Northern California, a chant heard at arenas across the league when the Kings win and social media sensation. Here's everything you need to know about the beam.

The idea for the beam came from John Rinehart, the Kings' president of business operations, who was inspired by a sign in the parking lot of the Los Angeles Angels' stadium, which lights up when the team wins. He pitched the idea to Ranadive, who was all in.

"We toyed with different ideas," Ranadive said. "Do we light up the Capitol building? Do we light up [Tower Bridge]? What do we do? But we really wanted it emanating from our building. So, there you have it. We now have the purple lights in form of a beam that shoots into outer space."

Visually, it's simple. When the Kings win a game, the beam is lit and shoots up into the sky above the arena. If the Kings are at home, a player will usually take the honors of pushing the button, though celebrities such as 50 Cent have gotten involved as well.

Scientifically, it's a bit more complicated. The beam is "made up of six total Nu-Salt Laser Space Cannons -- two blue, two red, and two green that focus together making one bright purple laser beam," said Jae Yong Suk, the associate director of the UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center. The key is that it uses lasers and not LED lights, because lasers focus the light in one single direction

The operation uses 1,600 watts of power, and is the brightest full-color laser set-up in the world.

"On a very very clear night, I think it is very possible that the laser can reach space," Suk said.

That's part of what Ranadive loves so much about the beam.

"I just like the notion that this just goes into outer space," Ranadive said. "It goes farther than the human eye can see. As a tech guy, having four lasers beaming into outer space is kind of cool. I want aliens to see it. I want it to go so far out that everyone can see it."

The Kings unveiled the beam for the first time on Sept. 16, which is celebrated locally as 916 Day -- a tribute to Sacramento's original area code -- but they didn't light it until Oct. 29, when the Kings won their first game of the season against the Miami Heat. At first, it didn't gain much traction; the Kings' official account didn't tweet about the beam at all until Nov. 2, and the first video of the lighting wasn't sent out until Nov. 13.

LIGHT THE BEAM! #KingsFTW | @RedHawkCasino pic.twitter.com/uGOSykEYvz

But as the Kings started to win more regularly, the beam became more popular. When they rattled off a seven-game winning streak in November, it became a phenomenon.

The players quickly bought into the concept. De'Aaron Fox tweeted "LIGHT THE BEAM" during that winning streak ...

LIGHT THE BEAM! 🟣🔦

... and a few days later, Kevin Huerter started the hashtag #BeamTeam.

New nickname unlocked?? BEAM TEAM 🤌 pic.twitter.com/rspT2C9PAX

It's been all love ever since.

"Any time we get a win, the city of Sacramento, you know it," Fox said. "After one of our home games I was driving, so I couldn't see it out the window so I stopped at a red light and got out of the car so I could see it. It was dope, it was cool seeing a big purple laser going into the sky."

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