Bucher obviously doesn't pay attention:
"but their level of commitment won't be certified until they make the same non-refundable payment of $30 million to the Maloofs that the group from Seattle already has made"
How would they be able to make a non-refundable deposit on something that's already sold, pending league approval? Now, if the league rejects the Seattle offer and the Clowns want to sell to the new Sacramento ownership group and want a non-refundable deposit, that's a different story.
"Should the league's owners reject the Seattle group in favor of the Sacramento group without meeting that term, the source said, the Maloofs are almost certain to file an anti-trust suit against the league"
All team sales and relocations are subject to league approval. They knew that when they signed up. Again, if they want the new Sacramento ownership group to make a deposit AFTER the Seattle sale is rejected, that's a different story.
"Sacramento group also has to deal with several different entities owning parcels of the land upon which the proposed arena would be built. Working through how much the land is worth and a sale price for each parcel is not a quick process"
Looked to me like that's all ironed out. Otherwise they couldn't commit to a term sheet? And not only that, as stated in the city council meeting, the new ownership group is valuating the Natomas land at its estimated POST-MORATORIUM value which is very generous of them.
"nor is the required cash-out by Warriors part-owner Vivek Ranadive to join the Kings' group. I also have to wonder, considering the potential benefit for the Warriors in having all of Northern California to themselves, how motivated they'll be to expedite the process if doing so enhances the chance of the Kings staying"
Warriors probably don't care... having a team 80+ miles away makes no difference to them. Very few (if any) people from this region would care to go to their games if the Kings are gone. Most likely everyone would be so heartbroken that they wouldn't even care to watch another NBA game. As for Ranadive's shares, I would imagine that in the worse case scenario he could leave his shares in the custody of the NBA until they are sold, effectively removing himself from that organization? Or maybe the Maloofs could be interested in them? LOL
As far as the anti-trust lawsuit - if the Sacramento ownership group is matching Seattle's offer, then the lawsuit would have no teeth. They have no damages and have nothing to claim for the courts to make them "whole". What are they going to sue for, hurt feelings?