The ongoing saga between the Kings and the city of Sacramento appears to have come to a conclusion, although fans and mayor Kevin Johnson are unlikely to be happy about the result.
The Maloof family was finalizing an agreement Wednesday to sell the Kings to a Seattle ownership group, sources told Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski. The group, headed by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, would purchase the team for around $500 million, according to the report.
Wojnarowski continued to tweet details of the deal, including that the NBA supports the sale and that the team would play two seasons in dilapidated Key Arena before moving to a new arena, which the Ballmer-Hansen group has discussed building with the city for months.
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DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings’ franchise center, tweeted a one-word response to the news.
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Seattle has been without an NBA franchise since 2008, when team chairman Clay Bennett moved the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City and renamed them the Thunder. The move would reportedly take place in time for the team to begin competing in Seattle for the 2013-14 season.
