Not sure how much it can really help at this point, but finally the people of Sacramento and their elected representative have gotten to make their case to the Maloof brothers.
Wednesday night the King’s owners, Joe and Gavin Maloof, sat down with Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, according to Sam Amick at the new NBA Confidential. (Yes, former Sun Kevin Johnson. One in the same.)
Basically, since the last plan for a new NBA arena in Sacramento fell through, the Maloofs have been looking around while Johnson and the city has started a new effort for a new stadium (working with ICON, who has experience building NBA-quality arenas and has 90 days to come up with a plan to build and finance an arena).
Johnson wanted to know how committed the Maloofs were, because by all appearances they are dragging their feet, Amick says.
There are a lot of good reasons to keep the Kings in Sacramento as Tom Ziller points out. If they are going to move, Anaheim is a questionable choice if the Kings are to move (you’re leaving an 23-year-old arena because it is outdated for an 18-year-old one?). It would be nice to see the Maloofs give a very loyal fan base one more chance.
But the brothers are clearly looking around. They look like they already have one foot out the door.