Dakota Wizards to Santa Cruz?

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The Warriors purchased the D-League Dakota Wizards last June, and already they are planning on moving them -- to Santa Cruz.

Warriors G.M. Larry Riley told the Bismarck Tribune that the move makes sense.

Its a situation where players could come back and forth quite easily, and the same way with coaches. They can at least be right in tune with whats going on on a day-to-day basis with the Warriors. It should make the developmental process go quite a bit better.

According to the report, the City of Santa Cruz has a proposal on the table to the Warriors which includes 2.5 million to build a new home court for the Wizards in the coastal California community. The Wizards have played in Bismarck, North Dakota for 17 years, but Kirk Lacob, the team's G.M., told the Times the move seems likely.If everything goes through, the team will go to Santa Cruz."Although the Wizards have another year remaining on their lease at the Bismarck Civic Center, the team can buy out the remainder for 40,000. That's practically per-diem money for an NBA team on a decent-length roadtrip. The proposed arena would hold 3,200 fans and be custom built for the Warriors which Kirk Lacob told the Times would be under aa semi-permanent dome fabric structure.The Dakota Wizards began in 1995 as members of the now-defunct International Basketball Association. Could the deal fall through? The Santa Cruz city council will hear the proposal on April 10, with a vote expected in Mid-May. Kirk Lacob told the Times, Weve taken a calculated risk on this. We understand that it could be tough if this were to somehow fall apart, but were confident that it wont.Geoff James is a producer and writer for CSNBayArea.com

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