Kevin Johnson<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s buyers is just bad form.<\/p>\nYou will get your team Seattle. It might take a few years, but you will get an expansion team to put in your shiny new building with your billionaire owners.<\/p>\n
Better yet, you will get a team that is fresh and new. A team that is guilt free and with players that you can embrace as your own \u2013 not the residuals of a long lost Sacramento franchise.<\/p>\n
Waiting is hard, but you have the right ownership group that is ready to do what it takes to bring basketball back to the Emerald City. But there should be a line between doing what it takes and doing what is right.<\/p>\n
So let me propose a solution that seems so basic on its face. Let’s work together. Let’s find a resolution for everyone involved.<\/p>\n
There is an ownership group that needs to be replaced. Chris Hansen and his team have allowed the price to get out of hand only because they are hungry.<\/p>\n
$500 million is outrageous. So is $525 million or $600 million. You are playing into the hands of a defunct ownership group that has spread enough\u00a0ill will\u00a0throughout the country that they may want to find a new place to live.<\/p>\n
The price for NBA expansion last time around was $300 million. If we take that $300 million and the $500 million offered to purchase the Kings and combine them, we come up with $800 million or $400 million for each city.<\/p>\n
That is my proposal. Present a shared front to the NBA. Put away the price gun and present an alternative where everyone wins.<\/p>\n
Seattle gets the Sonics back through expansion. Sacramento saves their Kings with a new ownership group. The NBA rids itself of the Maloof family, gets paid back the millions they are owed and takes in another $300 million to share among fellow owners.<\/p>\n
Wrongs are righted. Wrongs are avoided. It is a win, win, win.<\/p>\n
David Stern is retiring in a little over a year. He has an opportunity to cement his legacy as perhaps the greatest commissioner in sports history. He can walk away with a clean conscience and a league that is as healthy as it\u2019s ever been.<\/p>\n
Small markets will live to fight another day. Large markets will get another breadwinner. Fresh billionaires will enter the league hungry to make their teams better. The NBA Players Association gets another 14 players earning wages.<\/p>\n
Victory can be found in compromise. Stop with the posturing and the 24-hour news cycle that is doing irreparable harm to the NBA.<\/p>\n
Let everyone win this time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a way that both cities can win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[610259261],"tags":[610259627,35890,610259449,610259788,610259502,610259515,76563,4800,610259745],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Sunday Musings: A Stern solution to Seattle and Sacramento's battle over the Kings - The Sports Daily<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n