8. I wish the Maloofs would sell controlling interest in the Kings to Larry Ellison
It's understandable that the family is uneasy being told by others what to do with its business. I wouldn't like it, either. But there isn't anyone in Sacramento who has any faith left in the Maloofs, and it's hard to see an arena ever being built there as long as they're owners, because what they consider negotiating is considered stalling and equivocating by city government officials, who've had enough after the latest arena deal fell through.
Selling 51 percent or more of the team to Ellison would allow the Maloofs to stay on as co-owners while injecting desperately-needed capital into the franchise. And if they could convince Ellison to keep the team in Sacramento as a term of the sale, they'd be viewed as heroes in town instead of pariahs.
I don't know Ellison's business plan, but he desperately wants an NBA team. And the Kings are the closest NBA team to Ellison's home base that aren't the Warriors, who Ellison tried to buy a couple of years ago, losing out to the Joe Lacob-Peter Guber group. If an arena deal was still possible in Sacramento for Ellison, it's hard to imagine him wanting to move the team less than 100 miles to San Jose, where he wanted to spirit the Hornets had he been able to buy them and move them out of New Orleans. And Ellison isn't going to move a team to Seattle; the whole point is to have a team he can go watch every night.
*Intersting perspective from DA. Would you trust Ellison to not relocate if he bought the Kings?*
