David Stern Says Sacramento Kings Move Wouldn't Be Approved by NBA Owners

NBA commissioner David Stern said on Tuesday that NBA owners would not support a relocation by the Sacramento Kings to Anaheim if the Kings decided to file for relocation.

From Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports:

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Stern says owners wouldn't approve move of Kings to Anaheim if such was on table and Kings owners plan on staying in Sacramento.

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SI.com's Sam Amick published the direct quote from the commissioner.

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NBA Commissioner David Stern weighs in on Sacramento situation with very interesting take. When asked if there's a scenario in which the team could still stay, & also asked whether the Board of Governors would support a move to Anaheim currently, he said, "If there was a vote now, there would be no support for a move. And I believe the ownership says they’re planning to stay there. On other situations, I might hazard a guess or a prognostication. On this one, I’m out of the business—for now."

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The Kings' majority owners, the Maloof brothers, have said repeatedly since the Sacramento arena deal fell through months ago that they would not look to move the team.

"That's not true, that's not true. I swear that is not going to happen," said Joe Maloof in an interview with the Sacramento Bee. In the interview, he also insisted that the team was not up for sale.

The city of Sacramento, led by Major Kevin Johnson, voted on and passed an arena deal in March that originally had the support of both the Kings and the city of Sacramento. The deal fell apart a month later when the Kings expressed concerns about multiple aspects of the plan.