Breaking News: NBA back in Seattle

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Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
The Maloofs are finalizing an agreement to sell the Sacramento Kings to the Hansen-Ballmer led Seattle group, sources tell Yahoo! Sports.


update:
Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
The deal will sell the Kings for approximately $500 million, with the Seattle group seeking relocation to Key Arena for the 2013-'14 season.


Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
The Seattle group's plans, with support of the NBA, is to play two seasons in Key Arena before moving into a new Seattle arena, sources say.


Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA
The Maloofs are expected to keep an extremely small percentage of team, but will have no real input or say in franchise, sources say.

Seattle Kings folks.

I like it because Seattle is King county.

Seattle Kings, has a nice ring to it.

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Between now and his departure, Stern is determined to get a franchise back into Seattle, league sources said. He has become a strong ally of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's group to bring back the NBA there. Ballmer's group has been trying to get the Maloof family to sell the Sacramento Kings, so that the franchise can eventually play in a new arena in Seattle.
From the league office, pressure on the Maloofs to sell has been growing, sources said – just as hopes for a new Sacramento arena have been fading. Seattle Sonics fans will never forgive Stern for his complicit role in Clay Bennett's deception to move that franchise to Oklahoma City, but make no mistake: Stern desperately wants to return the NBA to one of its great markets and wants it for his own measure of vindication before he leaves office.
As one source involved in the process said, "Stern has enough time to get a team back to Seattle, but he'll let Silver deal with the crowd [booing] on opening night."

So there ya have it. To a degree it might be out of the Maloofs hands. The BOG/Stern might be vetoing every other potential buyer because they simply want the NBA back in Seattle period.

[smokes]

Well that's awesome, Seattle has a rabid fanbase.

At the same time it's a shame for Sacramento to lose their team. That Sacramento crowd at playoff time in the early 2000's was pretty damn epic.

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Well that's awesome, Seattle has a rabid fanbase.

At the same time it's a shame for Sacramento to lose their team. That Sacramento crowd at playoff time in the early 2000's was pretty damn epic.

Yea, will never been forgotten the classic 2000 Kings team.

I guess Cali has too many teams.

I'm happy for Seattle...

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Is that logo legit or just a photoshop?

I kinda prefer Sonics to Kings.

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Sonics will always sound cool and unique, and I love the name for Seattle.

I guess the Kings is a weird team to name to have if your team doesn't win titles

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“@kcrabienick: Steve Pyeatt of Save Our Sonics says sources tell him Hansen deal for #NBAKings is more than handshake, it's on paper.”

[Paul1355]

this is some cool news...

beats the New Orleans Pelicans LOL

[Lercher]

As soon as the franchise gets relocated they will change its name to the Seattle SuperSonics. Book it.

[smokes]

What would be even better is if they were able to hijack the OKC roster and take all their players back

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What would be even better is if they were able to hijack the OKC roster and take all their players back

Will do they do an expansion draft? I guess not since they're continuing the Kings franchise?

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Will do they do an expansion draft? I guess not since they're continuing the Kings franchise?

Yeah exactly nah they'll just take the Kings roster as OKC did with the Sonics roster.

Hell the talent they have on that team is pretty good, they just need someone to bring it under control.

I like Keith Smart but the amount of flux in that Kings roster is stupid. For 3 years they've tried to have Tyreke as their main playmaker flitting between PG SG and SF... Tyreke is a great defender and has quality offense but how you expect a young player to develop to their potential whilst trying to learn 3 different positions is unbelievable.

You have three average PG's, two of whom have great potential, yet you use them in a pure timeshare where each of them plays 20 minutes or less.

Sign Jason Thompson to a multi-year deal as your starting PF yet grab Thomas Robinson in the draft.... Passing on Lillard, Barnes, Ross and Drummond...?

Can you imagine how good the Kings could be right now if they actually played things smart? Either by drafting a good PG or developing their current ones (Isaiah Thomas has shown he is capable of being close to Kemba/Lawson level).

Thomas
Thornton
Evans
Cousins
Drummond

Lillard
Thornton
Evans
Thompson
Cousins

The Kings are pretty much as bad as the Wolves when it comes to awful misguided drafting. At least the Wolves have some pro euroscouts bailing them out.

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I agree, I believe after the Bibby Peja Webber era died in Sacramento...Kings went the wrong direction.

They're been really irrelevant. They gotta go the OKC route and become relevant again. They need a superstar player, draft prospect that has potential to be a top 5 player like Durant...I would honestly tank it every season until they get that. Jabari Parker or Wiggins from Canada are suppose to be those type of players from all the hype they get.

[rady]

Looks like all this buzz for nothing, Sacramento can keep their team

It's looking official folks, the Kings will be staying in Sacramento. A frustrating day for Seattle.

— Seattle Arena Plan (@ArenaSeattle) [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

So much hope for the sonic fans these past months.. that's about it