Ric Bucher's post on Basketball | Latest updates on Sulia

Someone help me here: Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson announced that he had found 19 people to pony up $1 million

each in a matter of days to keep the Kings from heading to Seattle, a feat I'd rate as more impressive than finding one person to pledge $19 million. Where I'm lost: how does that counter an offer of some $525 million, including a $30 million non-refundable deposit due the Maloofs as of Feb. 1? Perhaps it's a warning shot to the Seattle group that, "Hey, with nine more days we could put together $30 million of our own by Feb. 1." That hypothesized, I have to think the Sacramento group has little interest in making a non-refundable donation to the Maloofs after all that already has transpired. Johnson tried to deconstruct the wide margin between what the Maloofs could've have received by leaving the team in Sacramento and what Seattle's prospective owners are offering, but the fact of the matter is the Maloofs found someone willing to pay significantly more for what they're selling. I can't help but think that if there were deep pockets willing to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento for the $400 million Johnson has suggested it will take, they would've done so before the prospect of putting up a non-refundable deposit to compete became part of the picture.