It appears that the auction of Bob Cook's minority stake might be dealt with sooner than we had imagined. Today Flemmer's attorney Donald Fitzgerald told the court that, "There's lots of activity." He proceeded to compare the sale to a water polo match, "Things are calm on surface but there's a lot going on underneath."

The auction had originally been set for April and would be finalized in May. Which, as Dale Kasler writes in the Bee today, would come well after the NBA Board of Governors meeting in New York, when the fate of the Sacramento Kings would be decided.

Fleemer and Fitzgerald contend that whoever purchases the 7% stake in the team at auction should have the right to match any offer for the majority share. Both declined to state if they had any new information regarding the validity of this claim.

Also of note, the Judge presiding over the bankruptcy proceedings, granted a motion to seal the set of documents furnished by the Maloofs to Flemmer containing the Kings partnership agreement and the official Seattle purchase offer.

It's not clear how this will play out, or what kind of impact these proceedings will ultimately have on the outcome of the Kings relocation saga. But, it is an interesting side story worth keeping an eye on.

*UPATE 2/26/13 2:30pm - What does "sealing" the documents mean? *

It's possible that sealing the documents in this context could simply mean that they would not be made public record and they would not be accessible via PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records). Which would mean that other law firms, not having anything to do with the case, would not have access to these documents.

In fact, in this instance, Flemmer himself may have been the one to actually file the motion to seal the records. It’s possible that this was a stipulation in his negotiations with the Maloofs when they provided the documents to him in the first place. So, filing the motion may have just a procedural thing.