Virginia Beach Reportedly Set To End Pursuit of Sacramento Kings

After much hullabaloo at the beginning of the 2012-13 season, Virginia Beach, Va., finally ended its ill-fated quest to land an NBA team.

Mayor Will Sessoms disclosed that his city is no longer actively seeking to poach the Kings away from Sacramento, according to Dale Kasler and Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee.

"This just ain't gonna work at this point in time," he told the reporters. "We can't move forward because Comcast has not reached a deal.”

Sessoms had installed a Monday deadline to put together an arena proposal that would be brought forth to the state legislature in order to acquire $150 million in subsidy money.

Developer Comcast-Spectacor and the city both agreed that they just weren’t far enough along to properly request and receive funding.

While Virginia Beach now has no plans to continue its courtship of the Kings, it would not oppose any attempts by the developer to secure a deal in the city.

It’s been a tough year for the 13-22 Kings, as they have one of the worst records in the Western Conference and are still playing in the severely outdated Sleep Train Arena, which first opened back in 1988.

The Kings are surrounded by trade rumors concerning arguably their best player, DeMarcus Cousins, who was suspended late in 2012 for an altercation with coach Keith Smart.

Many fans are fearful that Sacramento is likely to be one of the first organizations to relocate or be sold by the Maloof brothers—Joe and Gavin—in order to line their pockets.

At least they can rest easy knowing Virginia Beach is out of the picture, but there will likely be suitors popping up from all over the country with a strong interest in acquiring the franchise.