Well This is Getting Embarrassing

The crazy rollercoaster ride that is the sale of the Sacramento Kings to either the “Seattle Group” led by Chris Hansen and the “Sacramento Group” led by Vivek Ranadive will, in theory, end this week. The Board of Governors is set to meet Wednesday to determine the fate of the franchise. That’s the plan, but at this point, would anybody be surprised if there was some other muck up of the process? When the Maloofs are involved, there are no guarantees. This is why the term “MALOOFED” exists… because even when you have something you think is rock solid and has no chance of being screwed up, then the Maloofs rear their ugly head, do something childish and greedy, and screw the whole thing up.

It happened with the Sacramento arena deal a couple of years ago, and it appeared to be happening to the Hansen deal (with their insistence they continue with a say in basketball operations early on upon sale).  Nothing can be guaranteed when the Maloofs are involved.  This is likely why David Stern did the verbal equivalent of taking two fingers and pointing one at each eyeball, then pointing them at the Maloofs. You can tell that recently, Stern is done with the Maloofs. He basically stated that he doesn’t give a flying you-know-what what the Maloofs have to say and that by making a deal with the Seattle group, they sealed their fate. They are going to be out of the league and he is sick of dealing with their nonsense.

They responded in a very Maloofian way this week. Brian Windhorst reported this week that the Maloofs announced that they will not sell to any Sacramento group. This is after the Seattle group threw an extra $65 million at the Maloofs.  Ray Ratto called the new plan “Plan Middle Finger” in a blogpost on CSNBayArea.com.

Plan B is to sell the Seattle group 20% of the franchise, keeping the Maloofs as controlling partners in the venture, and keeping the team in Sacramento in the rotting barn that is Arco Arena.  This appears to be the first step in some Maloofian scheme to either (a) Major League the Kings, making them so bad that nobody goes to games, so they can justify moving out of Sacramento.

(not shown, a cardboard cut out of Gavin Maloof with tear-off pieces of clothing for each win)

Or (b), which is to sell the Seattle group 20% now, making them minority owners, then transferring the rest of the shares at a later date. In true Maloofian style, they did this without understanding of the NBA rules. They still need league approval to sell those 20%.

 

So let’s say that Plan Middle Finger goes through, what happens? Well, it’s the worst-case scenario for all gorups involved. The Kings stay in Sacramento with the Maloofs at the helm. Let’s look at this from every angle

1. The Maloofs – On the surface, this looks like the best deal for the Maloofs (and let’s be honest, all they care about is the surface)—they get an influx of cash and another person to bear the load of their degrading empire by giving 1/5 of the franchise to the Seattle group. However, they stay in Sacramento. The fanbase has been shrinking in recent years because of one reason and one reason only: The Maloof Family. It’s not that the Kings
2. have been bad, the Kings were bad literally for over a decade when the Maloofs took over. However, the fans still came out and were incredibly loyal. They cheered on the likes of Kevin Gamble and Billy Owens; they bought Tyus Edney jerseys and voted for Olden Polynice for the All-Star Game. The point is that the fan base is nothing if not loyal. However, the fan base also HATES the Maloofs with a passion. At this point, the Maloof family is basically not allowed within the city of Sacramento.
   
   Keeping the Kings in Sacramento will more than likely fully degrade the already incredibly eroded fan base by keeping the Maloofs at the helm. I would be surprised if the number of season ticket holders is over 1,000 in this scenario.  The Maloofs would become even bigger pariahs than they already are. Would they come to games? They couldn’t, they’re flat out hated. What happens to the team, then? Do they become absentee owners? This is a horrible proposition for even the Maloofs; even they should understand that.
   
3. The Sacramento Group – The Kings need two things; a new ownership group and a new arena. This new deal gives them neither. Ranadive would go back to being a minority owner of the Warriors and Mastrov goes back to fitness (24 hours a day).

This is likely Maloof brinksmanship with a surprising amount of self-awareness. They know that the owners are sick of the Maloofs. They have been running the Kings into the ground for half a decade, they owe the league about $100 million, they do nothing to stay competitive and just soak up that sweet, sweet revenue sharing. By announcing that the only way the league can be rid of them is to allow for the Kings to be sold to the Seattle group, they are hoping they are forcing the league’s hand.

 

I wrote the above last night before the relocation committee’s teleconference today. It appears as though the brinksmanship will not work; they did not make any changes to their recommendations.

 

The hostage situation is almost over. On Wednesday, the Board of Governors will meet and vote on the future of the Kings in Sacramento. The Maloofs reportedly are coming around to the idea of selling to the Ranadive group, but at this point, the damage is done. There is nobody, NOBODY left in this world that thinks anything positive about the Maloofs. They have shown their hand; they don’t like to be told no. They were told they may not be able to sell to the Hansen group and they stormed around whining and crying.  The fruit of their efforts will be voted on Wednesday. No matter what happens then, the true losers in this scenario are the Maloofs.

 

 

And I understand the irony of a group getting a $300,000,000+ check losers.

 

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