A lost cause? Sonics exit one court for another

OAKLAND, Calif. — From basketball courts to a federal courtroom.

From a 46-point defeat and record losses to lawsuits, arena debates and charges of breach of contract.

The Sonics start their second season today after a 126-121 victory at Golden State on Wednesday, which concluded their worst season in franchise history.

So long, Kevin Durant and Jeff Green, and say hello, commissioner David Stern and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

Goodbye, Nick Collison and Luke Ridnour, and get to know Bradley Keller, Slade Gorton, Tim Ceis and Richard Yarmuth, the attorneys who might ultimately decide if the Sonics return in the fall.

As players clear out their lockers today, the team's six-month basketball season segues into a summer-long legal battle and the fate of the Sonics shifts across the country to a downtown New York hotel where the NBA Board of Governors begins a two-day meeting this morning.

The owners will discuss revenue sharing and the Tim Donaghy referee scandal, but Sonics chairman Clay Bennett's bid to move the team Oklahoma City next season is at the top of the agenda.

The next 48 hours could undo 41 years of Sonics history in Seattle.

U.S. senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire and Nickels have sent letters to Stern urging him to postpone the vote until the team resolves its legal affairs.

Earlier this week, former Sonics owner Howard Schulz began preparation for a lawsuit against Bennett to rescind the 2006 sale of the Sonics. The ownership group has a June 16 trial against the city of Seattle, which seeks to force the team to honor its KeyArena lease that expires in 2010.

Murray has personally lobbied some NBA owners to vote against the relocation, said her spokeswoman, Alex Glass, and members of the grass-roots fan group Save Our Sonics have telephoned the league's office urging the NBA to hold off on the vote.

The last-ditch efforts have not had any effect on the owners meeting, and Stern indicated on an ESPN radio show Wednesday that the vote will take place Friday.

Despite his legal troubles in Seattle, Bennett will walk into today's meetings with seven votes in his pocket and will need to convince just eight more owners that his plan is a good one. He is barred from voting and needs just 15 owners to agree.

A seven-member relocation committee has unanimously endorsed the move, said NBA spokesman Tim Frank.

After touring the Ford Center and meeting with Oklahoma City and state officials in March, committee members New Jersey Nets owner Lewis Katz, Indiana Pacers owner Herb Simon and Los Angeles Lakers vice president Jeanie Buss approved Bennett's plan. Weeks later, they convinced the other committee members — San Antonio Spurs owner Peter Holt, Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison, Chris Cohan of the Golden State Warriors and Ed Snider of the Philadelphia 76ers.

Three NBA franchises have relocated since 1985 — the Kansas City Kings to Sacramento, the Vancouver Grizzlies to Memphis and the Charlotte Hornets to New Orleans. League owners gave unanimous support in each relocation bid except to the Hornets, who received a 28-1 vote.

Dallas owner Mark Cuban was the dissenting voice back then, and he plans to vote against the Sonics' move Friday.

"If the numbers really pointed and said Oklahoma City is better for the NBA, then I'd be all for it," Cuban said. "But they don't. And it's not even close. I just don't see it.

"It's not a knock on Clay Bennett. If I lived in a non-NBA city, he's that guy that I would want out there trying to bring a team to my city. He's a huge fan and he's doing everything he can for his hometown, Oklahoma City.

"There's nothing against Clay Bennett. He's doing a lot of things right, but at the same time, when you just compare the numbers, the size of the market, the cable market, the economics and the economic opportunity, the only negative here is [KeyArena]. And this building's lease ends in two years, so that will change."

There's speculation that a handful of other owners, including the Portland Trail Blazers' Paul Allen and George Shinn of the New Orleans Hornets, will vote against the move.

"I have no idea what the other owners are thinking," Cuban said. "I don't talk to them, and I don't know."

Percy Allen: 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com