Today's sale of the Seattle Sonics (and Storm) to an Oklahoma City group led by Clayton I. Bennett will have a reverberating effect on the NBA. Bennett is the president of Oklahoma City investment firm Dorchester Capital. He was key to temporarily moving the New Orleans Hornets to his city following Hurricane Katrina. He told a Tuesday afternoon news conference at his new team's training facility that whether the Sonics remain in Seattle beyond 2007 would depend on whether the team can reach an agreement with the city to replace or renovate KeyArena.

How the Sonics sale will impact the NBA:

1.) I fully expect the Sonics to be playing in Oklahoma City in 2007-08. I can't see a scenario where Seattle comes up with a satisfactory arena solution that will keep the new ownership group from moving the team. The Bennett led group wants to be in OK City and they've seen the success the New Orleans Hornets have had there - selling 11,000 + season tickets and getting great support from the corporate community. Bennett tried to buy a piece of the Hornets from owner George Shinn and when that didn't work out, he turned his attention to getting a team of his own. And how do you think ticket sales for a lame duck franchise in Seattle will be next season? My guess is not very good. If fans think the team is moving, why should they turn out for more than just a few games to catch their favorite players on the opposing team. And sponsorships.........forget about it.

2.) The Sonics potential move to OK City will mean that Seattle will be without an NBA team for the first time since 1967. This will potentially mean that over the past decade, the Pacific NW has lost 2 of its 3 NBA franchises - the Seattle Sonics and the Vancouver Grizzlies. The Portland Trail Blazers remain, but for how long?

3.) A Sonics move could open up the floodgates for a time of great change in the NBA. In addition to the Sonics move, we could see moves by the Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings and Memphis Grizzlies (again) over the next 5 years. There has never been such movement in David Stern's league since he became Commissioner in the early 80's. Stern, I would think, would rather see franchises thriving in cities that want his teams (like OK City, Anaheim, Vegas, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose) than in cities that really don't care much for NBA basketball any more. If a team can sell 11,000 season tickets in a city that rolls out the red carpet for an NBA team or 3,000 season tickets in a city that doesn't really care about NBA basketball anymore, where do you think the Commish would like to place one of his league's franchises?

Being an NBA owner in this day and age is a tough proposition - not too many owners make a profit with the day to day operations. Most of them hope to recoup their losses when they sell the team based on the franchise value increasing....as Howard Schultz and his partners did when they made a $150m profit on the sale of the Sonics (purchased the team for $200m and sold it for $350m).

4.) WWPAD? This stands for What Will Paul Allen Do? That's the multi-million dollar question. Will he sell the Trail Blazers? Will he buy the arena back and keep the team in Portland? Will he try to break his lease and move the team to Seattle (he has a nice parcel of land right next to Qwest Field where he could build a new home for the Seattle Blazers - he could be the white knight again and own two of Seattle's 3 major league sports teams)? Will he cut his losses with the Trail Blazers and be happy owning only his NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks? I've even heard talk of Paul Allen selling the Blazers and then buying the NO Hornets from George Shinn and then moving them to Seattle once the Sonics depart. Whatever Allen does, will have a big effect on the rest of the NBA.

Reliable sources tell me that now that the Sonics sale is out of the way, the NBA and Commissioner Stern will now focus on the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers. The league will identify the 4-5 ownership groups who are interested in purchasing the team and go through their due dilligence with each group. The NBA wants to make sure the prospective ownership groups have the proper funding necessary to purchase the team and Rose Garden arena and they also want to make sure the prospective ownership groups would be approved by the Board of Governors (otherwise known as the other league owners). My sources tell me that potential ownership groups for the Blazers include:

1.) Dr. Henry Samueli - owner of the Amaheim Mighty Pond and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks - the founder of Broadcom is a multi-billionaire and a huge NBA fan. If this becomes a bidding war, Samueli will win hands down. He still has the 2025 site agreement between the Blazers and the city of Portland as a hurdle if he wants to move the Trail Blazers to Anaheim. Everything is negotiable though and Samueli can write a large check to the city of Portland if he really wants to buy his way out of the agreement if he were the chosen owner.

2.) George Postolos - former Houston Rockets President

3.) Mark Wattles - founder and former owner of Hollywood Video - sources tell me to take him seriously. He's already met with Commissioner Stern and is also the only candidate we know of that is local - Wattles was born and raised in Portland.

I also hear that former Blazers President Bob Whitsitt is lurking. Whitsitt, who resides in Seattle and has friends with deep pockets full of Microsoft money, could be the dark horse in the race to buy the Blazers. Whitsitt could see the Sonics probable move out of Seattle as the perfect opportunity to purchase the Blazers and do one of two things: 1.) Keep the team in Portland and try to pull fans from Seattle to watch the Pacific NW's only NBA team - the Mariners and Seahawks do this very successfully with Portland sports fans who make the drive north when they want to catch live MLB and NFL action 2.) Move the Blazers to Seattle and return NBA basketball to Seattle once the Sonics leave. Whitsitt would love nothing more than to own and operate a team in his home town I am told - who wouldn't?? The big question is whether or not David Stern would approve a sale to Bob Whitsitt - who made a mockery of the salary cap for a number of years while running the Blazers and supposedly angered Stern by doing so.

The next few months should answer many questions about the ever-changing face of the NBA.