re: Kings/Sonics Saga Update: Kings stay, Seattle shut out

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The NBA has to approve the sale- even for a minority share. I doubt Stern et al give a frick about what the Maloofs want at this point.

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Yes, but the NBA can't force the Maloofs to sell the team to the Sacramento group unless they take them to court. I would think that if the NBA is willing to go to court, then the Seattle group would be willing to go to court to enforce their sale agreement and the whole anti-trust issue.

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The Mickey Arison Twitter exchange is a good line on what the committe is thinking. Its not about Seattle. Its about Sacramento stepping up and doing everything the NBA asked for 2 years now

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I can see that. The problem is though that the arena plan Sacramento has is far behind the Seattle arena plan. The Sacramento offer is also much less than the Seattle offer, plus they still don't have their full money is escrow yet. And it hasn't been 2 years, it's been about 2 months. Their whole group and arena deal have literally been put together in the past couple of months.

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As for the 4-3 vote, that's not a fact at all. The guy who broke it is, big shocker here, a Seattle reporter. The NBA has already called it a "total fabrication."

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Well of course the NBA isn't going to ever say anything different. There have been multiple people saying that the vote wasn't unanimous, but it was announced as unanimous.

This whole thing is pretty fascinating to me. Stern always gets his way and he wants the team to stay in Sacramento. With the Seattle group offering $126 million in relocation fees plus a higher valuation in the franchise, Stern has to convince every owner to vote against a $4.3 million personal check, an increase in their franchise's value, and a much larger TV market.

If Stern shuts down these 2 offers, I believe that the Seattle group will take the NBA to court as it will be their last resort. They want to avoid that at all costs as it will likely permanently burn their bridge to getting an NBA team, although it might force the NBA to give Seattle an expansion team.