Starbucks Mogul Wants His Sonics Back

You can be excused if, at this point, you've lost track of the Sonics vs. Sonics vs. Seattle battle. It's a convoluted mess, with multiple
lawsuits on the horizon and all sorts of secrets and lies floating around in the court system.

But no matter how confused, or disconnected, you've become from the fate of the NBA's worst team, this latest bombshell deserves your attention: Howard Schultz might sue Clay Bennett to get the team back.
No joke whatsoever. 

Nearly two years after selling Seattle's NBA franchise to Oklahoma City investors, the Starbucks mogul has hired a lawyer and is preparing to file a lawsuit against Sonics chairman Clay Bennett to rescind the July 2006 sale.

[...]

[Attorney Richard Yarmuth confirmed that] "It's not money damage. It's to have the team returned. The theory of the suit is that when the team was sold, the Basketball Club of Seattle, our team here, relied on promises made by Clay Bennett and his ownership that they desired to keep the team in Seattle and intended to make a good-faith effort to accomplish that."

Schultz is widely regarded as having stabbed the city in the back, since he sold the Sonics to non-local interests who, even before all the nonsense, were suspiciously strong candidates for relocation. Hell, that's why there's a clause about it in the sales. Howard is reviled in this city, and has largely avoided the entire fray up until now. When, out of nowhere, he emerges as maybe the best shot this city has at salvation. Really, this just means more court hi-jinx, but this new wrinkle has soap operatic potential.

I'm actually almost back to thinking "damn, we really missed out by not seeing Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, and Kevin Durant together," which hasn't occurred to me in months. Thanks, Howie.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.