NBA Selects Man Who Relocated The Sonics And Lied About It To Head Relocation Committee

It gets worse for Sacramento. David Stern has appointed Clay Bennett, second-most hated man of Seattle and 2008 Oklahoman of the Year, to lead its Relocation Committee. The deadline for the Kings decision has also been extended to May 2.

Bennett, to refresh your memory, is the one of the rich men from Oklahoma City who bought the Sonics in 2006 and claimed to have no plans to move the team.

"It's not our intention to move or relocate the teams as long, of course, as we are able to negotiate a successor venue to the current basketball arena," Bennett told the Post-Intelligencer at the time.

A year later, he wrote in an email to Stern (who apparently still trusts the man), "As absolutely remarkable as it may seem, Aubrey [McClendon] and I have NEVER discussed moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City, nor have I discussed it with ANY other member of our ownership group." This email, we soon learned, arrived in Stern's inbox four months after he'd written to co-owner Tom Ward, "I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can" to move the Sonics to Oklahoma City and avoid, in Ward's words, "another lame duck season in Seattle."

"Thanks for hanging with me boys," Bennett signed off, "the game is getting started!"

Sacramento, we stand with you. But with the Maloof-Bennett evil union presiding over this decision, we think you may be kind of screwed.

NBA extends deadline for Sacramento Kings relocation application until May 2 [LA Times] Clay Bennett Named Head Of NBA Relocation Committee [SB Nation Seattle]