Just one month ago, Joe and Gavin Maloof stood hand-in-hand with Kevin Johnson at center court of the Power Balance Pavilion, all wide smiles and exultation. Cheers rained down on the owners of the Sacramento Kings and the city's mayor, as Kings fans gave them a hero's welcome to celebrate a tentative deal to fund a new downtown sports and entertainment complex that would include a new arena for the Kings. It was one of relatively few good nights in the drama-filled relocation saga that has surrounded the franchise in recent years, and the Maloofs were eager to be lauded as benevolent rulers — when they took the floor to thank the fans for their support, the Kings game operations staff played "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters . Well, the Maloof family probably looks considerably less heroic to Kings fans today. One month after agreeing to the framework of a deal, the owners now reportedly have serious concerns about Sacramento's ability to get the arena built in time for the start of the 2015 NBA season, are "disputing that they have a firm agreement" to aid in the building of the complex, and have not taken the nuclear option — packing up the Kings and moving them out of Sacramento — off the table. At issue are "a slew of pre-development and construction costs" that must be covered to get the ball rolling on the project. The Maloofs' share of the bill weighs in at about $3.26 million, the first $200,000 of which must be paid quickly. Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that the Maloofs — who had previously asked for clarification on which element of the arena partnership (the Kings, arena operator AEG or the city of Sacramento) would be responsible for picking up the pre-dev tab — don't want to pay their end. In fact, they don't acknowledge that it's "their end" at all.
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