Sacramento Kings: Kings to Seattle Talk Ridiculous

Tonight, the Sacramento Kings will face the Oklahoma City Thunder in a rare appearance for the Kings on national television. But meanwhile, if you listen to the national narrative, the Kings may soon be departing Sacramento for Seattle—past home of the Sonics-turned-Thunder.

It's great that Seattle is working on getting a team again, according to the Seattle Times. But despite all the rampant media attention that may say otherwise, any talk of the Kings moving to Seattle is both incredibly premature and ridiculous.

The article from the Times discusses extensively the option of the Kings moving up to Seattle, but fails to mention how far the city of Sacramento is on cementing the Kings in the capital.

The Sacramento City Council will be voting by the end of the month on privatizing the operation of downtown parking facilities as a means of financing an entertainment complex. By privatizing the parking facilities, Sacramento, led by Major Kevin Johnson, is optimistic that a budget plan can be presented without any tax increases to the public, which killed arena deals in the past.

This is the closest Sacramento has ever gotten towards getting a new facility, and a yes-or-no vote on the issue will pretty much decide the future home of the franchise. The NBA has been in constant discussions with Johnson and his staff, and the commissioner, David Stern, says the city has been making "very positive steps" to keep the team in town.

Meanwhile, Seattle "is in serious discussions" about bringing a team in the future, says the Seattle Times. Sacramento is weeks away from finalizing a budget plan for an area, but hold the phones!..  Seattle is in a "concerted effort" to bring a team.

Sacramento is finalizing a plan to build an entertainment complex. Seattle is talking about considering options to do those those things that Sacramento has already done.

And so, the national belief is that the Kings will...end up in Seattle?

Makes as much sense as a Shaquille O'Neil free throw.

There should be no confusion here—Seattle deserves an NBA franchise. They were robbed of their team at the birth of a championship-caliber squad, and it's tremendously disappointing that there isn't basketball in Seattle. If Los Angeles can have two NBA teams while Seattle has none, something is wrong there. (Move the Clippers to Seattle. There, problem solved.)

Furthermore, should things go completely sour in Sacramento and the City Council votes against Johnson's parking privatization proposal—even then, it makes no sense to think the Kings will be playing in Seattle next season, as the Seattle Times article so ridiculously said.

Seattle may be at the top of the list for "cities that need an NBA team," but they lack something cities like Kansas City or Anaheim have—a non-ancient, NBA-playable arena.

Unless Seattle has its own financing plan ready in the next month and can convince Stern and the NBA that an new Seattle arena is all but built... they'll miss their chance. And again, that's on the assumption that Sacramento's own arena deal crashes and burns.

The story is quaint, of course. Seattle deserves a new team, and native Christopher Hansen, a wealthy San Francisco hedge-fund manager, is working with the city to get an arena done. And look, says the national media, there is a team right down the Pacific Coast that almost moved last year! Get the printers on the line; we have front-page news!

That is, of course, if you ignore all the progress in Sacramento. Or the fact that other cities are far more ready than Seattle for a team.

There are plenty of concerns left in Sacramento, and in a month, the Kings' ticket out of town could certainly be punched. But it isn't a probability, and it isn't the present. Wait until then at least before you try and move the team.