Owners Vote Against Kings Relocation to Seattle

It looks like the Kings are staying in Sacramento... for now.

The NBA Owners voted down the proposed relocation to Seattle by a vote of 22-8. This vote coming after the relocation committee's unanimous recommendation against Kings proposed move. The Maloof family, who owns the team, has been talking to an investment group lead by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen which would've relocated the team to Seattle. That deal now seems doomed by this recent vote.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said at a news conference "It is my expectation that we'll be able to make a deal with the Maloofs and the Ranadive group to transfer title of the team in Sacramento," latter adding "It's not a certainty, but we're going to work [toward] that result."

It seems that Maloofs are stuck in ownership purgatory. They found an ownership group that they wanted to sell to but the NBA owners shot down the one thing needed to make that deal go through. And while their back up plan might include selling a minority stake of the team to the Hansen group, I'd bet that the the NBA Owners would reject that sale knowing the group's intentions.

As for the Ranadive group, the Maloofs don't seem to want to sell to them right now despite the fact that the group has managed to match the original bid put up by the Hansen group of $525 million. Now of course the Hansen group raised their bid significantly to a total of $625 million, but the Ranadive group has shown they are serious about buying the team. Unless the Maloofs can be persuaded, it seems that they are stuck with the Kings until they find a buyer they like and also wants to keep the team in Sacramento.

P.S. While I admit that I was mostly rooting for the Kings to stay in Sacramento, I can't help but feel sympathetic to Seattle. They lost the SuperSonics in 2008 and now have failed to attract a replacement team with the Kings. I get that you feel like you just got sucker punched by league a 2nd time. But understand this; you've got the Mariners, the Seahawks, and even the Sounders to fall back on. What else does Sacramento have?

Besides, I bet you'll get another chance with a different team unsatisfied with their current location real soon.