Lawyers for Sacramento Kings owners Joe and Gavin Maloof have filed to register "Anaheim Royals" and "Anaheim Royals of Southern California" as federal trademarks, according to a Sacramento Bee report.
The reported move is the latest in a series of developments that could potentially see the Kings relocate to Anaheim as early as the 2011-12 season.
On Feb. 24, the Kings requested permission from the NBA to extend the March 1 deadline they were facing to formally file for a move to Anaheim, Calif., in time for next season.
The extension allows the franchise to review its options with the NBA's Board of Governors at its April 14-15 meeting in New York.
Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson, who starred for 12 seasons in the NBA, has been fighting to keep the team in Sacramento.
Kings co-owner Joe Maloof has acknowledged that "many cities" besides Anaheim have expressed interest in serving as the Kings' new home. But sources close to the situation say that, with no NBA-ready arena for the Kings to move into in the Maloofs' home base of Las Vegas, Anaheim holds the greatest appeal to the Kings.
But you know what makes this even worse than the Seattle fiasco in 2007-08? These aren't even out of town guys coming in and hijacking the Kings from Sacramento. The Maloofs have owned the Kings since their heyday in the earlier part of this millennium. They were there when Tim Donaghy and Robert Horry robbed the city of a trip to the NBA Finals in 2002. They put together the legendary squad of Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, Vlade Divac, Doug Christie, Bobby Jackson, and Hedo Turkoglu. They were there when Arco Arena was one of the toughest home courts in the NBA. At the very least Clay Bennett was from Oklahoma City, and contrary to what he may say bought the Sonics with the sole purpose of taking their talents to the Sooner State.
And say what you will about Sacramento being a small market, but these same owners proved you can build a highly competitive team no matter the market size.
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| Back when the Celtics were irrelevant, it was hard not to root for Sacramento against the Lakers. What a squad right there. |
All of this to move to Anaheim? As great a name as the Anaheim Royals may be, the Los Angeles area already has two basketball teams. Pretty sure they aren't winning over any Laker fans. And with Blake Griffin doing his thing, it might even be difficult to sway any Clipper fans, even if there are only 12 or so of them. Can they really make more money there than they can in Sacramento?
Let's just say this goes ahead and the Kings do wind up in SoCal. The Maloofs have made no secret about their desire to one day own a team in Las Vegas. Again, the LA area already has two other teams. Sounds like just another pit stop to me. Did you know the Kings are the most traveled franchise in all of professional sports? From their beginnings as the Rochester (NY) Royals, to Cincinnati, to the Kansas City-Omaha (and later just KC) Kings, and most recently Sactown. So now Anaheim and inevitably Vegas will be added to the list.
David Stern has done a lot of wonderful things for this league, but his recent record of relocations is a tad disturbing. Pulling the plug on Vancouver after just six seasons (for freakin' Memphis), and the aforementioned Seattle/OKC saga are certain black eyes for his tenure. Does he want to allow another questionable one? Stop this madness and keep the Kings in Sacramento. Either that or at the very least right the Seattle wrong.
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