OKC claims their lease with Sonics ironclad!

[pr0wler]

From Seattle Times Article...."If the Sonics didn't play the last two years under their lease you would have at least 41 days of amelioration of the Mercer mess, wouldn't you?" Keller asked.

This in reference to the fact that the games at Key Arena creates traffic around the surrounding area, and if the Sonics weren't in town then there wouldn't be that issue to deal with anymore! Boy, Clay Bennett and his cronies are even more desperate than I thought lol.

[andyhop]

OKC does have a valid lease. They can enforce it against the counterparty -- specifically, the Basketball Club LLC or whatever that entity is called. After the LLC sells the team back to Schultz's LLC, there's still an enforceable obligation that it will have to satisfy. They'll have to work that out between themselves. Not our problem.

If Schultz loses his case ,it seems that the lease (obviously depending on its exact clauses that we don't know) acts as a poison pill to any potential buyer of the Sonics wanting to keep them in Seattle because it would put them in the same situation that exists now of the owner trying to break a lease with a city.

[colombianbrew]

^That is what OKC hoped to do with this lease, however there are a number of issues that come into play. Firstly, if Schuktz wins his case, it would be feasible for a judge to say that the OKC lease was entered into in bad faith. Also, the OKC lease requires the NBA to approve the move. If the Sonics never apply to move, then the OKC lease does not come into effect.