The Sacramento Kings are going nowhere. Ownership representatives from the league's 30 teams met Wednesday for nearly four hours and ultimately voted to reject the Kings' proposed move to Seattle, backing last month's unanimous recommendation from a relocation committee to keep the team in Sacramento. NBA commissioner David Stern confirmed the vote in Sacramento's favor was 22-8. Acknowledging the toll this saga has taken on both cities, with the Kings' future in Sacramento uncertain for the past 2½ years and Seattle's wait to return to the world of professional basketball forced now to continue indefinitely, Stern said: "I would say it's a victory for Sacramento, not a victory for the NBA." Stern went on to say at a news conference afterward that the Maloof family that owns the Kings has "the right to retain ownership" of the team under league bylaws. Stern, though, expressed confidence that a sale to the consortium assembled by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson and headed by Silicon Valley billionaire Vivek Ranadive eventually will be completed. "It is my expectation that we'll be able to make a deal with the Maloofs and the Ranadive group to transfer title of the team in Sacramento," Stern said. "It's not a certainty, but we're going to work [toward] that result." Source: ESPN
