Sacramento v. Anaheim Battle for NBA's Kings Becomes a Paper War

Some believe the split between Sacramento leaders and the owners of the NBA's Kings happened in March, when attorneys for the Maloof brothers filed a massive request under the Public Records Act for communications between the city and 53 other parties.

Now, a former Sacramento city councilman is giving the Maloofs some of their own medicine by requesting communications between the Kings and Anaheim, operators of the Honda Center and several others.

The Maloof bros

Ryan Lillis details the power play in the Sacramento Bee.

The Maloofs, of course, dangled Anaheim as a possible destination for the team last season, leading to Sacramento city and business community intervention led by Mayor Kevin Johnson, a former NBA point guard. A proposed plan for a Maloofs' desired new arena came together, then collapsed over financing a few weeks ago. David Stern, the NBA commissioner, declared the deal dead recently.

And so, we've now entered the dueling finger pointing phase of the relationship, with the Maloofs filing this: KingsPRA4-5.htm.

Here is former Sacramento councilman Robbie Waters' counterpunch: WatersAnaheimPRA.htm.

• OC Weekly Sacramento Kings-Anaheim Royals archives.

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