Stern: For Seattle, it's Sonics or Nobody
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by Tylersalt
New Sonics owner Clay Bennett told the league last Friday that he was planning to move the team to Oklahoma City, where the New Orleans Hornets played while Hurricane Katrina relief efforts prohibited them from playing in the Big Easy. The team was enthusiastically supported in its surrogate home, and ever since the media have speculated that's it's merely a matter of time before the league either expands there or moves a franchise there -- and the Sonics have long been the most likely candidate.
From ESPN: "When [the] move would occur depends on outcome of litigation with the city over the franchise's Key Arena lease. The lease calls for the team to play in Seattle through the 2009-10 season, but Bennett wants out sooner." Stern still hopes that someone, a "white knight," will come in and put the finances in order that will allow the team to remain in the Pacific Northwest. However, with every passing day, that becomes less and less likely. And it seems that if it doesn't work out, the good people of Seattle will be without professional basketball permanently.
