When Mike Bibby was traded to the Sacramento Kings in 2001, he joined a franchise already on the brink of greatness. At the heart of that surging Kings era was Chris Webber, an established All-Star power forward who had transformed the team from a perennial underdog into a legitimate championship contender.
Right from the jump, Bibby was well aware that Webber was the Kings’ main guy. Despite that, C-Webb never let Bibby feel that he was superior to everybody on the team.
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Bibby admired Webber’s leadership style and how he carried himself as a superstar. According to the former Kings point guard, Webb did not embody the typical traits of an entitled and demanding franchise cornerstone.
Instead, C-Webb prioritized collective success over personal recognition, while maintaining his reputation as the leader of the team.
“Webb is an alpha dog,” Bibby told CBS Local’s DJ Sixsmith in 2020. “Everybody knew that was what made our team so special. I played on teams where if guys didn’t get their points, they weren’t the same guys. When I played with Sacramento, it didn’t matter who scored the points. As long as we won, the guys were the same way. That’s the way basketball was meant to be played. Even though Webb was the alpha dog, he didn’t have an ego.”
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C-Webb let Bibby have his moment
Bibby played almost four seasons with Webber in Sac-Town. Along with the sharpshooting Peja Stojakovic, defensive specialist Doug Christie, smart and seasoned big man Vlade Divac, and bench firecracker Hedo Turkoglu, Bibby and Webber formed “The Greatest Show on Court,” a fitting moniker for the early 2000s Kings’ squad.
For Bibby, the Greatest Show on Court wouldn’t have been as synchronized and unstoppable as it had become if it hadn’t been for C-Webb’s unselfishness. In fact, Bibby still has a vivid recollection of how Webber’s team-first mentality enabled him to pull off one of the greatest plays in Kings history: his game-winner against the Los Angeles Lakers in the final seconds of Game 5 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals that lifted Sacramento to a 3-2 lead.
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It’s worth noting that Bibby made that shot off a handoff from Webber.
“I remember coming out the huddle and telling Webb if you don’t shoot it, give it to me and I’ll knock it down,” Bibby remembered. “That’s the way our team was. Webb felt comfortable enough to pass me the ball and I could take care of my business. That’s the way our team was.”
C-Webb’s career altering injury
Apart from the great memories, Bibby also remembers the bad ones, including the play that tore Webber’s ACL. According to Mike, it happened during their two-man play in Game 2 of the Kings’ 2003 Conference semis duel with the Dallas Mavericks.
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Webber instructed Bibby to throw the ball up after he spun out of his defender. Bibby did exactly that, but C-Webb got hurt and went down. For Bibby, that was the exact moment that ended the King’s title hopes.
“As soon as I threw it up and he went to grab it and he came down, I was like, damn, you never know. It went there that quick. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do at that time but you’ve got Chris Webber telling you to throw the ball up, you throw it up,” Bibby once recalled.
“After that, it kind of hurt our hopes of going back without our superstar alpha dog,” he added.
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Bibby was right. C-Webb was never the same player after that ACL injury. The Greatest Show on Court eventually collapsed as the core players got traded to different teams, Webber included.
Still, Bibby considers his time with the Kings as the best years of his NBA career. Stating the obvious, Webber was one of the reasons why.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.