You have to understand, a lot of people Seattle in 2008 wanted the mayor Nickels to go scorched earth and force the NBA to stay two more years through their lease, and if they had gone that route in retrospect, Bennett would have been forced to sell (a few short months after moving the team the economy went belly up, and at that point it would have made absolutely no sense). Ultimately Nickels got voted out. So the people did speak, and Nickels rationale failed.
Its one of the most baffling things about Stern's reign, the fact that he'd move a team from a market of 3.5 million to one of 1.2 and think it was a good business decision for the league. Or to think it would be smart precedent to rip apart a team with substantial NBA history (a championship, number of hall of fame players, not to mention between 1975 to 2002 Sonics were in the playoffs 19 out of the 27 years). A number of NBA players hail from the state of Washington, and there are two successful college basketball programs in the state as well. Needless to say, basketball is quite big in the Northwest. Which makes the whole thing even more puzzling, that Stern would honestly think taking NBA away from a state with a big interest in the sport and putting it in a state where college football rules over all. I'll never forgive Stern, it was the most cold hearted way to burn down a 41 year history.
Sacramento got caught in the crossfire of a bitter, bitter fight thats ultimately Seattle vs. Stern. It would have been very easy for Stern to announce expansion right after the arena plan got approved, avoiding this whole mess with Sacramento, but the league didn't do that partially because they wanted to see the Kings sold for such a high price. If the league doesn't expand to Seattle, honestly I hope its scorched earth because its what should have happened in 2008.
You guys may think I'm a hypocrite but I'm not, I just don't have patience. Sacramento deserves its team. My position is that if expansion isnt announced soon after May 15th as a consolation for Seattle's efforts here, I'm not waiting around another 5 years for the Sonics. There is no logical reason to wait until 2018 or even 2020 for the Sonics to return, its too far long at that point, 10-12 years beyond the point in which the team moved. There are no available teams until 2017 at the earliest, and any expansion will be two years at the earliest from when its announced. So if the NBA is waiting around until after the TV deal is signed, honestly it will be too late. And Ballmer/Hansen understand this, which is why from what I'm hearing, they are lawyering up big time to go nuclear anti-trust case on Stern.
Like I said, this is a much bigger battle that is ultimately Seattle vs. Stern. Sacramento never deserved to get in the middle of this. If its not basketball in Seattle, seeing Stern backed into a corner, having to deal with the worst situation of his career right at the end, and potentially losing a major anti-trust lawsuit, would be enough closure for me. Maybe I'll even become a fan of the Kings if that happens, I quite like you guys.