Seattle Kings or the Sacramento Supersonics?

The National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings ownership has reached a deal with Seattle interests that would transfer 65 percent of the team to a Seattle group and see the team move from Sacramento to Seattle.

The basics of the deal seem to be clear, but there are still some final movements that are in the process. The National Basketball Association’s Board of Governors has to approve the transaction and ultimate move from Sacramento to Seattle. The NBA Commissioner David Stern has told Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA player, that he will have one last chance at keeping the team in Sacramento. The Maloof brothers, the present majority owners have to declare their intention to move by March 1 and the Board of Governors will take up the question of whether to move the team or not in April.

The last time the NBA moved a franchise and immediately replaced the team was in 2002 when George Shinn took his Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans. That shift may have some effects on the proposed move in that Shinn left Charlotte because he could not secure a new arena to replace the 14-year-old Charlotte Coliseum.