The Kings came very close to leaving Sacramento for Southern California last season, with an 11th-hour intervention by NBA commissioner David Stern and an aggressive outreach by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson keeping the team in town.
Now, a report out of Seattle indicates that an investor group there is considering the Northern California franchise as a possible replacement for the Sonics.
A story in Sunday's Seattle Times indicated that Seattle native Christopher Hansen, who the paper describes as a "wealthy San Francisco hedge-fund manager" has been engaged in talks with officials in the Seattle mayor's office to build and arena bring an NBA team back to the city.
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The Kings are not specifically named in a number of documents that have been made public, but the paper trail indicates that Seattle has been following developments in Sacramento, which is under a March 1 deadline to come up with a viable proposal to build an arena.
According to the story, "if Sacramento fails, the Kings could be playing in Seattle next fall if the city and Hansen reach an agreement, according to a Seattle City Hall source who has been briefed on the matter."
Last Friday, Sacramento city officials announced the names of 13 companies that have submitted proposals for the rights to build a new basketball arena.