Looks like the Kings are still trying to get out of Sacramento. That much is clear.
The Kings skirted the questions revolving around Virginia Beach recently with measured answers like, “The sole focus of everyone within the Sacramento Kings organization continues to be to put a winning team on the court as we look forward to what promises to be an exciting 2012-13 NBA season.”
That’s just the type of boring answer we would expect from the team’s PR department, but lucky for us the King’s are owned by Joe Maloof.
When pressed for a straight answer, King’s part-owner Joe Maloof stated that the Kings “haven’t talked to Virginia Beach.” Uh, ok. Thanks, Joe, so we’re taking that to mean you’ve talked to just about every other city West of London. What was so interesting about his statement wasn’t that Virginia Beach was destined to be the final destination, but that he basically admitted they are actively looking to relocate the team out of Sacramento.
The Kings were 22-44 last year with their biggest offense threat being Marcus Thornton, averaging 18.7 points per game and DeMarcus Cousins going for 11 rebounds per game. Ok numbers, but nothing too spectacular for a team that was 30th in the league in terms of points allowed. Not exactly the type of statistic that breeds championships.
The plot thickened when Virginia Beach major, Will Sessoms, seemed to have a different spin on things than Maloof. Sessoms stated he has been in talks with Comcast, Live Nation, and Global Spectrum on the reality of building a $350 million ocean-front complex for an NBA team.
Excuse me? What’s that you say Will? A $350 million ocean-front NBA complex? But wouldn’t you need a team for that?
Yes you would. If these plans aren’t for the Kings, then who are they for? The reality is the NBA simply doesn’t have that many teams actively looking to make exits out of their hometown, so one must wonder what is really going on behind closed doors with the Kings and Virginia Beach.
Some teams in difficult mid-size markets have seen the recent success of the Oklahoma City Thunder and continued success of the San Antonio Spurs and have likely started to think maybe they simply need a more supportive base. Wherever the Kings end-up playing it will likely not be in Sacramento for too long.
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