Let’s remember when Chris Hansen reached an agreement to buy the Sacramento Kings, which happened on this day in 2013 (January 20)
Since the Sonics left for Oklahoma City, the closest Seattle came to getting another NBA team (so far) was six years ago today, when rich-guy-with-local-ties Chris Hansen announced an agreement with the Maloof family to buy the Sacramento Kings.
As nba.com reported:
Sources said Sunday night that the Maloof family, which owns the team, reached agreement over the weekend to sell a controlling interest in the club to a group led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen, whose intention after buying the team is to petition the NBA to move the team to Seattle in time for the 2013–14 season.
On Monday morning, the NBA issued the following statement: “The NBA received an executed Purchase and Sale Agreement for the transfer of a controlling interest in the Sacramento Kings from the Maloof family to an investor group led by Christopher Hansen. The proposed transaction is subject to the approval of the NBA Board of Governors and has been referred to the Board’s committee process for review.”
Hansen, with a group of limited partners, will pay $525 million to the Maloofs to buy a 65 percent share of the team, sources said. That represents the “upper chair,” or controlling, percentage of the team that had been owned by the Maloofs. Another 35 percent of the team remains in the hands of minority investors, but Hansen’s intention is to try and buy out those investors in the near future, according to a source directly involved in the discussions.
Hansen ended up buying an additional 7% of the team, only for the NBA to nix the deal and find a local buyer to keep the team in Sacramento.
The dream of bringing the NBA back to Seattle continues, but at least this is some other city’s problem.
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