Maloofs Want Front Office Power In Sale Of Kings To Seattle

April 26, 2012; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings owners George Maloof and Gavin Maloof sit court side during the first quarter against the Los Angeles Lakers at Power Balance Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

And the roller coaster continues to run through the loops.

After news of the Kings potential sale to the Seattle based Chris Hansen group broke, devastation was rampant across much of the the Valley but in the hours that passed – the Maloof family we’ve all come to loathe showed their true colors, this time with Seattle fans on the receiving end.

Reports broke late yesterday that the Maloof family had not accepted the rumored offer, first brought to light by Yahoo Sports – but actually rejected it. In addition to that, word leaked this morning that multiple members of the Maloof family are at odds over the sale of the Kings franchise – something we’ve seen before when the Maloof’s disagreed about both relocation of the franchise and the proposed arena deal that fell through after initially being agreed upon.

Now, according to the Seattle Times – if the Kings are to be sold, the Maloof family doesn’t want the “small” stake in ownership as reported yesterday by Yahoo – they want much more power:

"The family that owns the Sacramento Kings wants to maintain a say in how the team is run if they sell it to Chris Hansen, creating a possible snag in the sale negotiation, an NBA source told The Seattle Times."

A negotiation is rarely easy and doing so with the Maloof family turns a normally difficult process into gut-wrenching experience – we’ve all seen it first hand. How this concludes – we’ll find out in the coming weeks and months, but given the recent leaks – there certainly doesn’t look to be any deal on the verge of completion. And as King fans know – the emotional Maloof’s change their mind (for good and bad) with the snap of a finger.

Update:

And here is a bit on the situation from Ailene Voisin’s Sacramento Bee chat:

"One of the sticking points about any potential Seattle deal is this: the Maloofs want to remain the team’s managing partner, which means, they want to continue running the club. There is no way Hansen/Ballmer obtain majority interest in the Kings and allow the Maloofs to continue operating the franchise. I hear they are offering the Maloofs an undetermined percentage of minority shares, but why would the Maloofs want that? They want to be out in front, want to be the stars."