A dark day for the NBA

ESPN is reporting that the city of Seattle and the owner of the SuperSonics, Clay Bennett, have reached a settlement in regards to the conflict over Bennett wanting to move the team to Oklahoma City.

In short, Seattle lost their franchise.

The team will move to Oklahoma, but the city gets to keep the SuperSonics name and team colors. Yipee.

Sure, Bennett has to part with $45 million now and potentially $30 million more if the city doesn't get a replacement team by 2013, but somehowI doubt that helps Sonic fans feel any better.

This sets a bad precedent in the NBA. Essentially, any owner can come to the city, insist on a new arena, to be fully funded by taxpayers, and if that doesn't happen, he can bail on the city and move the team somewhere else.

Not good.

Bill Simmons posted a column back in February where he listed a ton of e-mails he'd received from Sonics fans who were distraught about the situation. I thought I had mentioned it in a previous post here, but a quick search indicates I hadn't. Anyway, I highly suggest you read at least a few of the e-mails. They're powerful reminders that this move affects individuals and not just a city.

And finally, ESPN has yet to post this news on the front page of their website. Forgive me for being an NBA homer, but I believe this story is far more important than the fact that Brett Favre is rumored to maybe be thinking about possibly un-retiring.

Are they trying to avoid casting too long a shadow over the NBA? Is David Stern at work here? I anticipate Stern will make an announcement about using a new kind of jersey or something to take attention away from this.