Maloofs Reportedly Willing to Accept Offer That Keeps Kings in Sacramento


According to Sac Bee sources, the Maloof family is willing to sell the Sacramento Kings to investors who would keep the team in town. Those investors just have to come up with the right dollar amount, by today’s Maloof-imposed deadline: “The Maloofs are not people who sit patiently and quietly on the sidelines. The Kings’ owners love fast food and fast cars, and right now, they are looking for the fastest exit out of Sacramento. They want their money and they want to pursue another professional sports franchise in Major League Baseball or the NHL, hence their 5 p.m. deadline today for the Sacramento-based investors to submit a written matching offer for the Kings. Seattle investors Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer have an agreement with the Maloofs to purchase a majority interest in the team for $341 million – including a $30 million nonrefundable deposit – and have applied to the league for relocation. The NBA board of governors, made up of the 30 team owners, must approve all sales and relocations; only eight votes are needed to block a sale. On Thursday, sources close to the Maloofs said that if the Sacramento group submits a matching offer that satisfies the league’s other owners, they will embrace an outcome that keeps the Kings in Sacramento. […] While Kings fans remain angry about the family’s repeated attempts to relocate the team – and, more recently, to sell and relocate – the Maloofs would prefer to avoid a scorched-earth departure from Sacramento, where they presided over several very successful seasons. For this to happen, the sources said, a counter offer must match the Hansen/Ballmer bid and give the NBA a reason to reject the sale. ‘We’re giving Sacramento every opportunity to keep the team,’ one source said Thursday, ‘but they keep blowing every deadline. We haven’t seen anything in writing.'”