Well, it looks like the Lakers and Clippers won't have a third NBA team in southern California, at least not for next season. The Sacramento Kings, who have flirted with moving their franchise to Anaheim as early as the 2011-2012 season, have now decided to stay in Sacramento. Per Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated:
↵↵↵Kings co-owner Gavin Maloof just confirmed to me by phone that the family has decided not to file for relocation.
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Consider this another assist for former NBA All-Star point guard Kevin Johnson, now the mayor of his hometown Sacramento. The Kings have been in Sacramento since the 1985-1986 season, but were far along in the process of moving to Anaheim. The team received permission to extend the deadline to file for relocation, and even went through the process of registering several trademarks and website domains, likely to become the Anaheim Royals.
↵The Kings in their last game of the regular season came back from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter to take the lead on the Lakers, much to the delight of the home crowd, but the Lakers came back to win that game in overtime. Now, as it turns out, that won't be the last time the NBA will be played in Sacramento after all.
↵Stay tuned for more news as it breaks both at SB Nation’s NBA hub and at Sactown Royalty.