NBA Roundup

NBA in Seattle is over for now, OKC fans happy, Seattle fans... not so much.

After years of struggles, PBC Chairman Clay Bennett and the City of Seattle have come to an agreement which will move the Seattle Supersonic to Oklahoma City for the 2008-2009 season. Ever since Bennett has had his influence in the Seattle SuperSonic in 2006, he has wanted to move the team to there. Now, his dream is coming true. Seattle will no longer be able to host an NBA team due to failure to meet NBA regulations in the Key Arena. Thus, it is official that Seattle will lose it's NBA Franchise to Oklahoma next season. Sadly you cant even get to the Sonics page on NBA.com anymore. It redirects to the new OKC page.

During last season, Seattle had a horrible season. They lost a lot of games and it seems that they lost a lot of fan support as well. During the end of the season, there were many rumors that Seattle would lose their team because they were not selling enough tickets. But now, it is official that they will lose their team and must improve Key Arena if they want to get a team back within the next 5 years.

The Seattle SuperSonics franchise will be moving to Oklahoma City. This will be the first time that Oklahoma has had an NBA franchise. After hurricane Katrina, Oklahoma City offered their support by hosting the New Orleans Hornets for the 2006-2007 season, however they did not have ownership of the franchise. Apparently, basketball has a big success in there. Almost half of the games played at the Ford Center (Oklahoma) were sold out, while the rest sold almost full capacity.

The memorandum of understanding for the settlement dictates an agreement must be completed by Aug. 1. The Sonics should have a new name, logo and team colors by then. In the meantime, players in a summer league have been wearing generic black-and-white gear with "Oklahoma City" on it.

Now, Oklahoma City will have ownership to a franchise that they will not have to return after one season. The Sonics franchise now belongs to investors in Oklahoma City. It has been agreed that they will, however, leave the name, logo, and team colors in Seattle. This means, that they will have their own logo, team name, and colors. At this point the team name and colors is not known, but should be announced shortly. Basketball fans of Oklahoma can now purchase season tickets for the 2008-2009 season.

Quick Hits:

LA Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers acquired center Marcus Camby from the Denver Nuggets for a future second-round draft pick.

By landing Camby the Clips did a nice job of reeling in a premier big-man to replace Elton Brand. With Brand heading to the Sixers the Clips had the room for Camby in both the lineup and on the payroll. And while the 2006-07 Defensive Player of the Year isn't the scorer Brand is, he is just as good (maybe better) defensively. By getting rid of Camby's big contract the Nuggets are, above all, giving themselves financial elbow-room.

Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired center Calvin Booth, forward Rodney Carney, cash considerations and a conditional first-round draft pick from the Philadelphia 76ers for a 2010 second-round draft pick.

Thanks to the benefit of a $2.8 million trade exception acquired from Miami last year, the T-Wolves were able to take advantage of Philadelphia's need to clear cap room. At the very least, they improve position in a future draft.  The Sixers gift-wrap a couple players, a draft pick and money to Minnesota, just to open up a little salary cap room? What this trade really gives Philly is all-star Elton Brand, who signed with the team after the deal allowed them to improve their contract offer

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