Kings may re-locate to Seattle, become the Sonics

Maloofs nearing deal to sell Kings to group that plans to relocate franchise to Seattle

The Maloof family is finalizing an agreement to sell the Sacramento Kings to a group that hopes to move the franchise to Seattle for the 2013-14 season, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

The deal will sell the Kings for approximately $500 million to a group led by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft chairman Steve Ballmer. The group is seeking to relocate the franchise to Seattle's KeyArena for the 2013-14 season.

The Seattle group's plans, with support of the NBA, is to play two seasons in KeyArena before moving into a new Seattle arena, sources said.

Great news for Seattle and former Sonics fans if the deal ends up going through. A shame it has to be at the expense of the Kings and their lineage that dates back to the 1940s, though.

They gotta bring the Sonics back and have these jerseys.

Might as well copy from that other thread:

Investor Chris Hansen has contacted the Maloof family about buying the Sacramento Kings, people with knowledge of the situation said Wednesday.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity because no deal has been reached.

Indeed, sources close to the situation told PBT that there are still many hurdles for this deal to overcome, and that Sacramento still has willing, reputable buyers ready to meet or beat Hansen’s offer in order to keep the franchise in town. Indeed, as reported here numerous times, Hansen would have to drastically overpay in order to outdo the Sacramento ownership groups, because Sac owners don’t have to account for a relocation fee, a city loan back to Sacramento, and the hard costs of moving. Sources say that this will total a minimum of $125 million, and should the NBA decide they want to levy a higher relocation fee to even out the playing field that number could increase.

the league issued a memo to owners on Wednesday warning them not to comment on the Sacramento situation.

A person with knowledge of the Kings situation told USA TODAY Sports that the minority owners of the team haven't been informed of the sale as of early Wednesday afternoon. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. The person said terms of the ownership agreement dictate minority owners must be told before a sale is complete.

I kinda loved Kings because of Divac,Stojakovic and others,but I am also happy for Seattle because the town really deserves it.However all of this is still far from finished in my opinion.

Was going to post about this last night in the random discussion thread, but figured it was just another crazy twitter rumour.
Good news for Seattle, bad news for basketball fans in Sacramento. Can only imagine the reception for the Thunder when they play in Seattle.

I have been waiting for the day the Sonics are back in the league for so long, I can't help but feel sad for Sacramento (my best friend is a Kings fan).. I hope that if it falls through, the Kings would be back someday on the expense of a team without real history (Thunder somehow, New Orleans which will also bring back the Hornets to Charlotte..) or as an expansion team like what was planned all along for Seattle.

I'm interested to know what are the comments from retired Kings players like C-Webb and Peja.

They gotta bring the Sonics back and have these jerseys.

I liked those logos and jerseys too, but I'm guessing they'll bring back their most recent designs (or a variation thereof), if this does ultimately go through.

What are they waiting for? Who doesn't want the Sonics back.

What are they waiting for? Who doesn't want the Sonics back.

Kings fans..

where's lamrock in all of this?

What are they waiting for? Who doesn't want the Sonics back.

Kings fans..

lol

It was really frustrating to watch their game last night. 17 point lead turns into an overtime loss. Some of it due to referees but a lot of it due to Keith Smart being the worst coach in the league.

It's too bad the Thunder can't go back to being the Sonics, but if I had to choose between Sonics and Kings, I would rather have the Sonics in the league.

Fingers crossed for this to happen and I think it probably will. Excremento is terrible, but so were the Sonics before moving to OKC.

ah ha! there he is, just in time
https://twitter.com/aaronbruski/status/ ... 2415145987

Sacramento is the favorite to keep the Kings in my eyes based on conversations with sources close to the situation.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... 13/bruski/

As usual it comes down to the money, and with all things equal in this case the threat of killing the public subsidy goose will be the tiebreaker.

With Kevin Johnson’s legitimate, comparable offer from more-than-reputable buyers in hand, the NBA will have to both look a gift horse in the mouth and sanction Sacramento’s open-heart surgery if they move the team to Seattle.

FUCKING BULLSHIT. JUST MOVE TO SEATTLE DAMMIT....PURPLE IS A SHIT COLOR ANYWAYS

ah ha! there he is, just in time
https://twitter.com/aaronbruski/status/ ... 2415145987

Sacramento is the favorite to keep the Kings in my eyes based on conversations with sources close to the situation.

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/ ... 13/bruski/

As usual it comes down to the money, and with all things equal in this case the threat of killing the public subsidy goose will be the tiebreaker.

With Kevin Johnson’s legitimate, comparable offer from more-than-reputable buyers in hand, the NBA will have to both look a gift horse in the mouth and sanction Sacramento’s open-heart surgery if they move the team to Seattle.

Certainly getting interesting, especially after some reports rushed to having the team in Seattle as soon as next season.

As noted above, the relocation fee imposed by the league has to be fit into the offer, along with other related costs. So Sacramento bidders can actually underbid Hansen and pay more directly to the Maloofs.

Johnson had a buyer for a team back two years ago when the Maloofs were trying to both blackmail the city into buying them a new arena while also trying to sell the team to anyone who wanted it and also keep it while moving. That was the reason the league didn't immediately approve the Anaheim move. I'm sure they have even more offers now that the city has agreed to throw away taxpayer money on an arena.

EDIT: From Jao's link:

This has played out over the last 24 hours as multiple buyer groups have stepped up in Sacramento to buy the Kings, including a group that is connected to Ron Burkle.
...
Anybody moving the team will have to account for at least $100 million in unpaid loans to Sacramento (~$75 million) and relocation fees (~$30 million), and this is a very low estimate. That number increases as you account for moving costs, and the fact that the relocation fee could be more than $30 million. We’re reporting that this number could go as high as $300 million if the league really wants to flex its muscles in getting what it wants.
...
In a moment of levity at that charity event, attendee LeBron James was asked by Johnson if he could buy the Kings and keep them in Sacramento and he responded with, “get me my check book.”

LeBron isn’t going to have to reach far because Sacramento buyers have been making themselves known over the past 24 hours. Mark Mastrov, former CEO of 24 Hour Fitness and San Francisco investment firm JMA Ventures have thrown their hats in the ring.

Burkle was the guy Johnson had an offer from back in 2011.

David Aldridge claims it's a matter of when, not if, an announcement is made regarding a sale that will relocate the team to Seattle.

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
With sale finalized, NBA's Relocation Committee will approve Kings move to Seattle for next season, sources tell Y! "Formality," source says

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
As Y! reported Jan. 9, Maloofs were finalizing deal to sell to Hansen-Ballmer Seattle group. On Jan. 14th, deal points of $525M for 65%.

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
The plan has always been for the franchise to reclaim the Sonics name upon returning to Seattle.

Seems it's getting closer to actually happening.

good shittings. I wonder what their jerseys will look like. Most likely similar to old ones but still some new flavor.

It will be awkward for Durant to play against the Sonics next year. I wonder how Seattle fans will react when the Thunder come to town.

The Blazers/Sonics rivalry is renewed again.

So many things to look forward to

I assume the Thunder will get a cold reception in Seattle, even though it's not the fault of the players or coaches. Nevertheless, it's understandable...still, there will be a touch of hypocrisy there, since the new Sonics will be coming at the expense of a franchise with an even longer lineage. It's great to see Seattle getting a team back after what happened a few years ago, but a shame about the circumstances.

What do you think about moving Kings to Seattle?
http://www.nba.com/2013/news/04/03/aldridge-kings-decision-not-likely-soon/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpts

Merged your thread with the old one, so that we may continue the discussion easier.

Like I said before, it's great that Seattle has an opportunity to get an NBA team back but a shame that it has to come at the expense of another franchise that's been around for even longer than the Sonics were. I can understand Sonics fans seeing it as retribution for the way their team was "stolen", but it's kind of a case of two wrongs don't make a right. Sounds like it's still up in the air right now, though.

and its been shot down, Kings stay in Sacremento
https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/ ... 4075361281

The NBA committees have voted no to relocation of Kings to Seattle, sources tell Y! Sports.