The Los Angeles Lakers will officially end the Kings’ season, and perhaps their entire tenure in Sacramento, Wednesday night at Power Balance Pavilion. It is thus oddly appropriate that Lakers owner Jerry Buss will play a key role in evaluating the Kings’ potential move to Anaheim.
Tom Ziller of SB Nation has learned that Buss, the Lakers’ patriarch, is a member of the league’s relocation committee, responsible for reviewing all relocation and arena proposals on the league’s behalf. The committee also includes Mickey Arison (Heat), Peter Holt (Spurs), Herb Simon (Pacers), Ed Snider (76ers), and two other team owners whose identities Ziller was unable to learn.
It’s likely that Buss’ opposition stems not from principle, but rather because he stands to lose an estimated half-billion dollars in television revenue should the Kings move to the Anaheim market, which is far more lucrative than Sacramento.
If Buss cannot persuade the league’s Board of Governors to vote against the Kings’ move, he can push for it to at least impose a steep relocation fee on the Maloof brothers, who own the Kings.