Photos
The announcement could come as early as tomorrow morning. It follows two weeks of intense speculation and sets the stage for a climactic tug-of-war between Sacramento and Seattle over the team's future over the next few weeks.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson is planning to propose a counter-offer in which a rival group would buy the Kings and keep them in Sacramento.
A source close to the situation said Sunday evening that the Maloof family has reached agreement with a Seattle group led by hedge fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer.
The sale price wasn't immediately known. Earlier, it was reported that the Hansen group was offering a deal that would value the team at as much as $525 million, a record for an NBA franchise.
The Hansen group would move the team to Seattle in time for the next NBA season.
But any sale and relocation requires the approval of the NBA's Board of Governors, consisting of league owners, and Johnson believes he can convince the league to reject the Seattle proposal and keep the team in town.
In any event, the sale would end the Maloof family's often rocky 13-year stewardship of the team. The Maloofs bought controlling interest in 1999 from Jim Thomas and rode the team's winning ways for several years.
But the family has been hit with enormous economic setbacks in recent years and seriously considered moving the Kings to Anaheim in 2011. More recently, the team negotiated with a group to move the Kings to Virginia Beach, Va.
The family declined comment on the sales reports tonight through a spokesman.
At least one deep-pocketed bidder has surfaced to keep the team in Sacramento: Mark Mastrov, the founder of the 24 Hour Fitness chain. Other possible suitors mentioned by Johnson and NBA Commissioner David Stern include supermarket tycoon Ron Burkle.
City officials have said they would offer a Kings buyer the same arena deal rejected by the Maloofs last spring, including $255 million in public subsidies.
