March 7, 2011 - The mayor of Sacramento, California, said it's now a near certainty that the city's professional basketball franchise will be hiring a commercial rental truck and moving away.

Mayor Kevin Johnson, who was once an NBA player himself, said at a press conference that a meeting with team ownership Wednesday did little to assuage his fears that the franchise would be moving. If anything, it encouraged Johnson to give up his long-standing fight to keep the Kings in Sacramento, where they have played for 26 years. Johnson said he has been held out of the loop on details by the Maloof brothers, the team's billionaire owners, adding that it's likely the team will head to Anaheim, according to CBS Sports.

"[The Maloofs are] going down a route to look at their options and we have to respect that," Johnson told the site. "I don't think at this particular moment there is a whole lot we can do."

A grassroots effort sprung up to encourage ownership to stay in Sacramento, but the city's lack of a new facility all but ensured the team would be calling up van lines in the near future. The Kings would become the first NBA franchise to relocate since the Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.
 

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