In a weirdo move that could only be designed to stop the hemorrhaging, the NBA — yes, THE NBA — is in the end stages of buying the New Orleans Hornets. As far as I know, this is unprecedented by the NBA, although it makes sense for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that the NBA doesn’t want to lose an entire franchise to some owner in over his head and desperate to divest.

The deal is this: majority owner George Shinn was trying to sell to minority partner Gary Chouest, but for a variety of reasons, the deal fell through. Shinn, apparently up to his eyeballs in debt, was starting to get antsy and desperate and Papa NBA stepped in and picked up the slack. Although they haven’t said how much they paid, exactly, the team is rumored to be valued in excess of $300M.

Obviously, too, New Orleans doesn’t want to lose another team. The Hornets have already moved around once, and since every one of their attendance benchmarks has been missed in their lease agreement, they’ve got some flexibility in the near future. Naturally, David Stern is all, no no, we LOVE Louisiana! We don’t want to leave New Orleans! Because, frankly, no one wants to be seen shitting on New Orleans, crappy basketball team or no.

{David Stern would never lie, you see.}

I can’t say it looks particularly promising for New Orleans. They’ve had season after season of stops and starts and team overhaul after team overhaul. New coaches! Now wait, different coaches! Veterans! Rookies! They’re all over the place, and the question remains whether the damage is done. David Stern claims, in large part, that their move was the best chances the team had to stay in Louisiana, but I can’t help but wonder if that ship has long sailed.

Good luck, Hornets.

{Photo}

{Source}

• Stumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUpon
• Digg this!
• Share this on Reddit
• Tweet This!
• Share this on Facebook
• Subscribe to the comments for this post?
• Post on Google Buzz
• Add this to Google Reader
• http://www.draftdaysuit.com/2010/12/07/nba-picks-up-hornets-for-now/ (sent via shareaholic) ---- In a weirdo move that could only be designed to stop the hemorrhaging, the NBA -- yes, THE NBA -- is in the end stages of buying the New Orleans Hornets. As far as I know, this is unprecedented by the NBA, although it makes sense for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that the NBA doesn" rel="nofollow" title="Email this via Gmail">Email this via Gmail
• Add this to Google Bookmarks
• Share this on del.icio.us
• Blog this on Blogger
• http://www.draftdaysuit.com/2010/12/07/nba-picks-up-hornets-for-now/ (sent via shareaholic) ---- In a weirdo move that could only be designed to stop the hemorrhaging, the NBA -- yes, THE NBA -- is in the end stages of buying the New Orleans Hornets. As far as I know, this is unprecedented by the NBA, although it makes sense for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that the NBA doesn" rel="nofollow" title="Email this via Yahoo! Mail">Email this via Yahoo! Mail
• http://www.draftdaysuit.com/2010/12/07/nba-picks-up-hornets-for-now/ (sent via shareaholic) ---- In a weirdo move that could only be designed to stop the hemorrhaging, the NBA -- yes, THE NBA -- is in the end stages of buying the New Orleans Hornets. As far as I know, this is unprecedented by the NBA, although it makes sense for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that the NBA doesn" rel="nofollow" title="Email this to a friend?">Email this to a friend?
• Post this to Posterous
• Share this on Technorati
• Share this on Tumblr

View Original Post at draftdaysuit.com | View GoonSquadSarah's Full Profile

• Filed Under:  
• Basketball, Sports, NBA