SACRAMENTO, CA - After the Sacramento Kings wrapped up practice Wednesday afternoon, the facility was virtually empty. Most of the players steered clear of the media, because they knew the reporters were going to pepper them with questions about a potential move and sale of their team to Seattle and not about the game of basketball.
"What about it, Seahawks," joked Kings power forward Jason Thompson. "Who do they play in the playoffs?"
A more serious Thompson did admit when any rumor involving the Kings begins to swirl, he gets swamped by friends and family.
"When you hear different things and the Kings are related then I am going to get 50-plus texts and 70-plus phone calls," said Thompson.
That is the type of distraction Head Coach Keith Smart was looking to avoid, hoping his players remained focus on simply the game of basketball.
"Everytime we got a little unfocused, I had added a minute to the practice time," said Smart. "We want the focus on what we can control and that is basketball."
The Kings did not make Seattle area natives Isaiah Thomas and Aaron Brooks available to the media.
KXTV News10