They are the undisputed kings of highlight-reel hoops. They are also officially, royally worried ... yes, already.

	Chris Webber has a new lawn man.

They are the Sacramento Kings, and they have a whopper of a problem. Chris Webber, the franchise player it took 15 years to find, will become the most coveted free agent on earth at season's end. With no guarantee that Webber will stay, and with the Western Conference more unmerciful than ever, it shouldn't surprise anyone that the panic -- privately and publicly -- began before the games started counting.

Probably because it's justified fretting. Webber let slip over the summer that he would be, shall we say, intrigued by the prospect of reuniting with Latrell Sprewell with the Knicks, or perhaps playing for his hometown Pistons. Webber, meanwhile, didn't need to say anything for whispers to start circulating that, most of all, he wants to slide into the Lakers' frontcourt between Shaq and Kobe.

In a related king-sized concern for the denizens of Cow Country, Webber's club is more at risk for slippage than any of the West's 2000 playoff qualifiers. We repeat: Sacramento, not Minnesota. Even in the unlikely event the Wolves lose Joe Smith and Kevin McHale because of their under-the-table contract escapades, even in the face of the Malik Sealy tragedy, the T-Wolves can turn to Kevin Garnett and Flip Saunders for stability.

Sacramento? Stability, clearly, is a word that won't be bandied about much for the next eight or nine months, unless the Kings become so mighty that Webber won't want to bolt.

"I think it's going to be OK," Kings coach Rick Adelman said hopefully on a national conference call earlier this week. "...I think a large part of that is, if we have success and we continue to improve, it's going to improve our chances of keeping Chris."

And if not? Just envisioning that scenario sends a chill through the free-spending bones of co-owner Joe Maloof, who knows he and brother Gavin are "going to be consumed by this all year." The fear of losing Webber is unavoidable, no matter how many times the Maloofs -- good, young owners who are committed to keeping the Kings on the radar -- vow to do and spend "whatever it takes, within the rules."

As Adelman mentioned, the first step is getting past the first round of the playoffs, where Sacramento impressively stretched Utah and then the Lakers to five games the past two springs. Problem is, these Kings might not survive the first week, given their usual road woes. They open the season with four away games, each the home opener for the opponent, and then their own home opener against those noted pushovers from Portland.

	Williams

Oh, and Jason Williams won't be playing in any of the five games while on suspension.

Did someone say 0-5?

You'd like to think the Kings can manage a road win or two in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Minnesota, even with those four games coming in a span of five days. We do know that they better win a couple, because this is definitely not the season to start slow in the West.

The tough launch isn't the only challenge, either. There are no guarantees Williams will follow orders and play under control when he does return, and there's no Tony Delk off the bench to steady things if Williams wavers. Bobby Jackson has that job now; let's see if he's as composed as Delk was in that Lakers series. Predrag Stojakovic runs unopposed at small forward, in place of Corliss Williamson, after dragging through the Olympics with a leg injury. Doug Christie should help, Turkey's Hidayet Turkoglu was a nice draft pick and Vlade Divac remains one of the league's best all-around centers ... but Webber, on a sore Achilles', is by far still the load-lugger.

Williams did bulk up from 165 pounds to 183 during unprecedented offseason diligence alongside strength coach Al Biancani. Of course, that merely serves as fodder for the Leno-esque among us who might observe that Williams' behind-the-back passes will now sail into the 10th row instead of the fourth. Adelman acknowledged Wednesday in his chat with the national media that Webber's future is "just one of the things that we've been talking about as far as distractions."

"The Jason situation," Adelman admits, "is another one."

One last point: Keep in mind that Webber doesn't need a huge contract-year season to get the rest of the league interested. He will be offered zillions in July no matter what happens, even if the Kings are (last bad monarchy pun, promise) overthrown from the top eight.

His teammates' fate, by contrast, isn't nearly as clear-cut. The Maloofs have spent $5 million renovating Arco Arena and are building a new practice facility, but no amount of luxuries would camouflage the cost of living without Webber. The B.W. Kings (before Webber) endured 13 straight sub-.500 campaigns.

Just to be safe, for those of you around the country who snapped up Kings jerseys and love that CWebb-and-Vlado commercial with the dance team, enjoy those Williams-to-Webber highlights on SportsCenter while you can.

Marc Stein, who covers the NBA for The Dallas Morning News, is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.