Kings Statistics

Kyle Ramos

In honor of the team's final games at Sleep Train Arena, Kings.com is catching up with long-standing members of the game night staff responsible for stats, scoreboard and more.

After recent games in which DeMarcus Cousins records his 8,000th point or Rajon Rondo ties the record for most assists in a game by a Kings player, sometimes fans are left to wonder who is the one who keeps tabs on all of these numbers.

For the Sacramento Kings, look no further than Darryl Arata, who serves as the Director of Basketball Information. Arata is the resident stats guru for the Kings, researching and compiling statistics to create an accessible and efficient way for fans, media members and anyone interested to be informed.

We had a chance to talk with the Arata to gain some extra insight into his contributions for the team.

Arata: “I worked as an intern with the Chicago Bulls in the Media Relations department for the first year and fortunately, they created a position for me so I was able to work there full-time. Then I moved back home to Hawaii after two and a half seasons in Chicago. After spending one year working in Hawaii, I came up to Sacramento to work with the Kings.”

Arata: “I handle basic statistical information. I don’t ever want to confuse anybody, because I do not do analytics, which some people do think, but my job is just basic statistical information. So my day-to-day responsibilities are to write game notes, informing the media of statistical milestones, helping with player interviews and requests, and writing the yearly media guide.”

On finding all of the information he gathers:

Arata: “There are so many ways to find information in this day and age with technology being what it is. Whether it’s going to ESPN or Basketball Reference or NBA.com. Before the Internet, you would have to make a phone call to the Elias Sports Bureau or hope that you had all the information you needed on hand somewhere.”

What’s your favorite part about this position?

Arata: “I like the fact that I get to deal with numbers and finding pretty cool stats. Also, being able to help people out – co-workers, the media, or whoever needs it.”

On his favorite memory from working in Sleep Train Arena:

Arata: “It would be easy to say that a moment on the court was something I remember fondly – like Mike Bibby’s game-winning shot versus the Lakers in the Playoffs or Tyreke Evans’ half court winner against Memphis or Jason Williams’ no-look passes – but I have other memories that stand out.”

“There was a long-time season ticket holder named Steve Gwiazdowski that sat directly behind me during games. If you were anywhere in the arena you could hear him when he yelled ‘horrible call!’ when he didn’t agree with the referees. He was loud, but he never swore. He said he couldn’t because his daughter was sitting next to him. I remember once when the Kings were playing the Jazz and, as Andrei Kirilenko walked to the scorer’s table to check in, he shouted something to Kirilenko in Russian. Steve didn’t know Russian but decided to actually learn a phrase just to yell at Andrei. In a playoff series, he also decided to bring a duck whistle with him. Not a cowbell, but a duck whistle. Thankfully, he was considerate enough to hand me and the stats crew people sitting in front of him earplugs.”

On an NBA statistical record he thinks will never be broken:

Arata: “In this day and age, one that would come to mind is probably A.C. Green’s ironman streak [of 1,192 consecutive games played].”

Kings Statistics

Kings Q&A: Director of Basketball Information Darryl Arata