The Maloof family is making an ultimatum to the group of investors hoping to purchase and keep the Kings in Sacramento. Submit a “binding” offer by 5 pm on Friday or any further negotiations are off. As first reported by the Sacramento Bee:
The Maloof family has given the Sacramento investors seeking to buy the Kings until 5 p.m. Friday to submit a written, binding “back-up” offer that matches the deal the family has in place to sell the franchise to a group in Seattle, a source close to the deal told The Bee today.
The source told the Bee that if the Maloofs receive a matching offer by Friday, they will consider it as a serious back-up proposal should the NBA nullify their tentative deal with Seattle. If the offer doesn’t arrive, or doesn’t match the Seattle bid, the Maloofs have said any talks are off with the Sacramento group. The source declined further comment about who issued the ultimatum, when, or why.
The source said the NBA a few weeks ago forwarded a “statement of interest” in buying the team to the Maloofs from the Sacramento group, but NBA Commissioner David Stern said the dollar amount in that offer was substantially lower than the offer on the table from Seattle. The source described the initial offer as “not even close” to the reported bid from Seattle of $341 million.
The initial offer by the Sacramento group came in low according to NBA commissioner David Stern. But following last week’s presentations by the Seattle and Sacramento contingents, Stern told media that the bid to keep the team in the capital city was no longer a point in contention.
“That is not one of the issues,” the commissioner said last Wednesday when asked if the Sacramento offer still needed to be improved.
Through their spokesman Eric Rose, the family declined to speak on the Sacramento Bee’s report.
“The Maloof family will not be commenting on any aspect of the agreement that was reached to sell the family’s interest in the Sacramento Kings to a group led by investor Chris Hansen until after a decision has been made by NBA’s Board of Governors,” Rose said in a statement issued to Cowbell Kingdom.
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