Rob: It is understandable that you wouldn't have a good understanding of the situation in Seattle since your only source for information is Bennett controled. Schultz did not "try and try again". He tried once, did what Bennett did (failed to offer to make a significant investment) and like Bennett gave up without taking any time to negotiate a "Win/Win" deal. Think of it this way. You are selling a car, ask $40,000 for a $30,000 car, I offer you $25,000 and you slam the door in my face. Wouldn't a smart business man come back and negotiate a little? Schultz didn't and Bennett didn't. Bennett didn't even have the decency to call his landlord "the city of Seattle" and talk about the situation when they publicly said they would be willing to talk.

I've never been to West Virginia except to pass through, but I can't imagine it being worse than here...

Oklahoma is better than Mississippi, Arkansas, and West Virginia...and that is it, Okies, you are better than no one else...

The brick yard is cool, but the brick yard in Spokane is actually better!! Boise Idaho is better too!!! Remember the Fiesta Bowl!!...actually, if you think about it, Oklahoma actually sucks....the coolest guy from Oklahoma was Will Rogers, no one else has even come close. Oklahoma is probably the 4th worst state in the union. I am sorry Oklahoma, but you truly sincerely suck.

Oklahoma City is cool but it is not a major league city. It is more in the lines of Tulsa, Tucson, Albuquerque or Spokane. It is fun to go to and don't get me wrong, it can be awsome, but it is NOT a big city, sorry OKC.

Oklahoma City is cool but it is not a major league city. It is more in the lines of Tulsa, Tucson, Albuquerque or Spokane. It is fun to go to and don't get me wrong, it can be awsome, but it is NOT a big city, sorry OKC.

Oklahoma City is cool but it is not a major league city. It is more in the lines of Tulsa, Tucson, Albuquerque or Spokane. It is fun to go to and don't get me wrong, it can be awsome, but it is NOT a big city, sorry OKC.

This is getting a bit crazzzzy suits everywhere being from Tulsa, I understand Sea Towns potential loss. It truly sucks been to Seattle what a great City. However OKC has really steped it up in the last 10 yrs and transformed it into a major league city. Many Tulsans allways considered OKC a rival. When the USFL was aroind OKC attempted to snag it from Tulsa. Based on the reported Tulsa support (ticket base) and Tulsa's superior corp base it was a factor in the NBA relocation approval. NBA will succeed to OKC hands down. Seattle not sure what to say but if you look at prior efforts by Shultz he failed and failed again with getting arena deal done. I am sorry but he knew the State would likely not support another attempt but sold the team anyway. Selling the team to OKC owners here is your sign Shultz. It is clear win or lose the team will be in OKC sooner or later. It would be prudent for Seattle to settle this and neg for a new team while it still can if they lose the suit they will lose that chance likely forever. I doubt any new owner of a team in Seattle wants to deal with a another law suit with OKC if forced to do so. I appears on the face to much time has passed since the sale, not to mention the storm was sold, all kind of contracts have been entered into. Voiding the sale will not happen. Seattle basketball fans you guys are full of passion I truly hope you guys get a new team and get a arena deal done. Shultz did you NO favor I not sure why your supporting him now. BTW the OKC Owners have plenty coin check the oil prices.

Much ado about nothing. My hopes are for OKC but my bets are on anything else. I am no NBA fan, think they are all a bunch criminals, and could care less whether they come or go. Looks to me like the only ones that will profit from this will be the lawyers, tieing up the courts and produceing nothing but chaos.

I want to see how this paper goes about the headlines concerning OKC suing the pants off Clay Clay if this goes against him and he has to give up the team. I can foresee some real slanted journalism in the upcoming months...

eddie wrote: "There is no way in hell a judge, even a judge from Seattle is going to take away an NBA team away from it's rightful owner and sell it a local buyer." That is the problem (according to one lawsuit) which claims Bennett is NOT the rightful owner due to the apparent lies he told (fraud?). I would agree with your statement IF Bennett is the rightful owner (but that is for the judge to decide).

eddie, mustang: I don't know if you are the Village Idiot or not, but you are sorely misinformed ("Oklahoma County is the only ones that had a vote"). Only residents of Oklahoma City were allowed to vote. Residents in surrounding communities (no matter what county they are in were NOT allowed to vote...it is a CITY sales tax, only voted on by registered voters in the Oklahoma City limits). By the way, only 8.5% of the residents of OKC voted for the improvements, but I digress...Are you related to Brent, (Jenks) by chance?

None of the people on this post can do anything about the way this is going too turn out. So why are you getting your blood pressure up. Kinda stupid don't you think? You all need too just relax and wait till the news drops, and then gloat!!

>>Paul from Yukon, you didn't read the ballet nor did you even vote. If you are really from Yukon and not Washington, Oklahoma County is the only ones that had a vote. Son, you live in Canadian County. And Jenks is in Tulsa County. Moore is in Cleavland County. We don't need to lie, Seattle is doing enough for everyone. OKC SONICS......Seattle, go suck your thumbs. You're done, finished, it's over, you lost, you're history.>>

Hey Eddie..care to explain to me how to "read" a "ballet"? I'm sure you meant "ballot" but my guess is that you were educated in Oklahoma and don't know the difference. BTW, if I'm not from YuKon as you blather about, then how would I know about the Interurban restaurant, the Burger King next door or the little strip mall down the on the Mustang Road on the west side ? Whoever mentioned village idiot is pretty accurate for Eddie.....Hey, wonder if Clay Clay and his buddy want to go see the "ballot" tonight....

Cale: What do we plan on doing with the team? Well first we will take about 5 years to undo the damage done by Clay who turned them into the worst thing since the Clippers. During that time we complete the expansion of the arena and everyone is happy except OKC who won't get another team because they put all their eggs under a steamroller. Oh, and btw:, the judge is a "she" not a "he" and is well educated on this type of contract law which will not bode well for Bennett who is hoping to find a judge without the ability to read or hear. The city has already coughed up their share of the funding and the state is no problem as the new Governor has already pledged to get the deal done. The problem with your theory on contract law is that you forget the part about fraud and intentional misrepresentation. Every contract has an implied covenant of good faith which means that both parties have a reasonable expectation that what the other party is saying is the truth. When it is proved that one party lied in order to coherce the other into a deal then the deal can be voided. It is a simple concept and a complete winner. Oh, and we are not worried about driving the team into the ground, Bennett already did that so there is no way to go but up. We will wait him out if we have to but this team is not leaving. The sooner you guys figure that out the sooner you might have a chance of getting another NBA team. But feel free to keep fighting, doesn't hurt us because the team stays here while you do and Bennett loses more and more money. Self inflicted wounds.

I think the city is just showing it has support backing Clay and wants to fight also. Probably more or less a scare tactic. I am disappointed in OKC's use of an assistant municipal councilor. Could we have done a little better, or maybe giving him a stronger title?? This just got messier and I don't really agree with being sue happy. Too many lawyers and bs. However, the comments about OKC winning in Seattle, the lawsuit would be filed here. And Bennett didn't steal the team, so all these posts referring to stealing a car are dumb. I don't think either city has the right to say this is over. Seems like most of these Seattle posters are wanting to stick it to the NBA as well, almost more than OKC. So why fight something that you want obviously don't like? Seems like most from Seattle hate Stern, the NBA and would like to see them sued.

No Jill, the OKC suit has no standing. The contract becomes null and void because it was entered into after an asset was bought by ilicit means. The OKC lawyer should know that. Top it off the contract wouldn't have any validity if the NBA didn't approve a re-location. By the time this case is sorted out Stern will likely be gone and the league will have been VERY tired of OKC and this drama. With an arena deal in place and one of the wealthiest ownership groups in sports why would the league want to get themselves in the middle of this mess? They would just say "sorry, team stays in Seattle" and you would be done anyhow. It is a no win situation for you if you go that route.

Wow John, how did you get to know so little yet think you know so much? There is no 6 month time limit for suing due to fraud and intentional misrepresentation. This isn't like buying a blender at Target, no one is asking for a refund because they didn't like the color. This is about Clay Bennett committing an act of fraud and the judge very much can do what she is being asked to do. The lawyer Schultz hired is one of the best in this kind of law and doesn't take cases that are not winners. So forgive us if we don't take your opinion on it. Second the NBA doesn't have a higher authority than the courts. See when you buy a team the league prevents the sale from taking place unless the buyer agrees to their franchise terms. When the court takes the team and hands it over to a new owner the NBA didn't get to control the sale so they don't get a say over who owns the team. At that point the new owner would have to agree to those franchise terms before they could continue as owner so any future sale would have to have league approval. Slick huh?

Chris: Where did you get that fantasy? Seattle supported this team despite Bennett making it the worst in team history. They were far from being the lowest attendance in the league and sold out the last game. Oops.

To show you just how stupid this whole threat from OKC is let's see how this would play out if it were true. Assuming that for some bizzare reason the courts let the OKC lease stand and passed the team onto Ballmer and company who are worth $35 billion. First the team would remain playing in Seattle until the lawsuit is settled, with appeals you can run that out to at least 2015. Meanwhile no NBA in OKC, money going down the drain for Ford Center, and any chance of getting another team going away as the rest of the league moves on. Then when forced to play where they don't want to be the team sells tickets for bargain basement prices so that Ford Center sells out every night for two seasons. If you have to give away tickets then so be it but you make sure that the tickets are distributed. Meanwhile you suck down the tax dollars that Oklahoma so generously provided to make sure that the team would be profitable. After two years you raise ticket prices through the roof. Cheap seats at $100 a pop, no discounts, no free seats. You trade all the star players for high draft picks and make sure no one wanted to come watch the team. No promotions, etc, and watch attendance drop. When it drops below 15% of the benchmark years BINGO the opt out clause kicks in and the team moves back to Seattle. If the fans in OKC want to keep their team all they will have to do is pony up record high ticket prices. Why not keep the team there when you have the lowest payroll in the league, expenses trimmed to the bone, taxpayer money rolling in, and over the top revenues from league high ticket prices. Sooner or late they will say "uncle" and the opt-out clause kicks in and you say bye-bye to the team. So by 2020 the NBA is gone and you look like fools. See unlike Bennett you can't bleed dry an ownership group worth more than all your billionaires combined. Come on now, you really think guys who drill holes in the ground are going to outthink the people who push the cutting edge of computer technology?

James 2: If YOU read between the lines you will see the judges have pretty clearly been sending Clay the message that he is going to lose, probably all four pending cases. To start with... The judge would not force Clay to sell the team. When she rules on the injunction the team will be placed in a constructive trust to prevent further harm from being done to the asset. Then when the jury rules that there was fraud and intentional misrepresentation the judge will order an appraisal of the current value of the team (which would be under $260 million) and would oversee the transfer of the team to a new owner and Bennett would get whatever was left after legal costs and damages were paid out. Second there will not be 2 binding contracts. The contract with OKC becomes null and void when it is determined that Bennett has "unclean hands". What that means is that you can not legally bind an asset after obtaining it via illegal means. In addition there is no way that OKC can force a move since the NBA has to approve a relocation and the conditional relocation given is only good for this upcoming season. If the league failed to approve the move the deal in OKC is toast. So no matter how you cut it OKC does not get this team simply because they signed a contract. Now they would have a cause of action against Clay but it is unlikely his puppets would pursue that. The court wouldn't have to overturn an NBA decision they would just grant an injunction preventing the NBA from making any move of the franchise. The NBA can go hang for all the court cares the law is the law and just being shaddy doesn't get you around it.

bobby-another caviat-The BENNETT is gone from S.A.-good for them!! THE FRAUD

James: It is obvious that OKC is getting worried and you explain why yourself when you say that OKC should just sit back and wait. If that were an option they would do just that. They are showing that they are not much brighter that Clay. "flexing" lawyers only works when you have a case. Clay has none nor does OKC. Simple logic tells you that they have no case. 1) If the courts place the team in a constructive trust all contracts become null and void that were made as a result of the fraud. If that worked you could buy a stolen car and because you had a contract the car is yours? Nope. The contract becomes invalid. You are right that this is just a big circus of idiots, none of them having a clue what they are doing. Stern, Bennett, your Mayor, everyone involved in this con job looks like complete fools for continually showing just how ignorant they are. Seattle isn't crying, they are fighting to keep what is theirs. If you had something worth taking you would fight for it as well wouldn't you? If not then make sure no one knows who you are because they will come for your stuff tonight. Seattle isn't going to move on, they are going to so what they did the last 3 times dishonest people tried to steal one of our teams, fight back and win. I am sorry you are going to have to suffer at the hands of your local clowns but you could end it pretty quick if you wanted to. You sure drank the cool-aid if you think that Seattle barely supported the team. We set attendance records, made three trips to the NBA finals, one title, and sold out the house night after night for almost a decade. Only Bennett intentionally driving away fans let people like you think that the team wasn't supported. But if the idea is to sit back and wait because if they want to come they will then great, wait a LONG time because the players, staff, etc not only don't want to come they won't or will bolt at the first chance they get. The only one that wants to come is Bennett and maybe Presti.

WeNdE: Doesn't matter, it is all Clay's money. Yup, guess what, loser pays legal fees. :-D