Jan 10, 2013; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings fans hold signs against the Maloof

After some back-and-forth about whether the Sacramento Kings were moving to Seattle or not, now it looks like they will.

The Maloof family that owns the Sacramento Kings has reached an agreement to sell a 65 percent controlling interest in the franchise to a Seattle group led by hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, according to league sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that NBA teams were formally notified Sunday night that the Kings have been valued at $525 million and that the parties have executed a purchase agreement, which still requires league approval.

Via Marc Stein of ESPN.com

It was reported earlier that the plan of this Seattle group, led by Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer, is to move the team to Seattle next season and have them play in the old Key Arena that the SuperSonics last played in. The new arena that is being built in downtown Seattle won’t be ready until the 2015-16 season.

Reports are also surfacing now that Phil Jackson is going to be a big part of the Seattle SuperSonics upon their return. He’s not going to coach but be the face of the front office.

Source says almost living lock Phil Jackson will become front office face of Seattle-bound Kings’ franchise. Won’t coach. Will mentor choice

— Peter Vecsey (@PeterVecsey1) January 21, 2013

Yahoo! Sports is also reporting that the Seattle group is targeting San Antonio Spurs general manager R.C. Buford and former Indiana Pacers president Larry Bird as possible candidates to become the new GM of the team.

The current GM of the Kings, Geoff Petrie, is in his final year of his contract and will not be retained.

US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Lakers made it official last night hiring Mike D’Antoni, not Phil Jackson, as their next head coach.

The deal in total is for four seasons in which D’Antoni is guaranteed $12 million over the first three with a team option for the fourth.

“We signed Mike D’Antoni to a multi-year deal,” Lakers spokesman John Black told the LA Times. “Dr. [Jerry] Buss, Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak were unanimous that Mike D’Antoni was the best coach for the team at this time.”

D’Antonti most recently coached the New York Knicks last season before being replaced by Mike Woodson. He is currently recovering from knee replacement surgery and will take over as head coach within a week or two.

The Lakers started this season 1-4 under Mike Brown and then have won the last two games since he was fired under interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

The Lakers wanted Phil Jackson to come back but apparently he wanted too much and a deal could not be reached.

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash have both expressed their support for the D’Antoni hiring. Kobe also was all four Jackson returning but likes D’Antoni too, idolizing him growing up and he even wore No. 8 to begin his career because of D’Antoni.

Nash has a great history with D’Antoni winning two MVP’s while the point guard in his 7 seconds or less offensive system. Nash, D’Antoni and the Suns made it to two Western Conference Finals together.

The Princeton offense era in L.A. is dead already and there won’t be a return to the Triangle either. Nash will surely be the focal point of the offense again under D’Antoni with some obvious tweaks being made for Kobe, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard as well.

Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Lakers are in search of a new head coach now after firing Mike Brown after a 1-4 start to this season.

Phil Jackson and Mike D’Antoni are both being targeted by the Lakers. Jackson is reportedly “willing to listen” as he awaits the inevitable phone call from the Lakers.

D’Antoni just had knee replacement surgery and wouldn’t be able to travel with the team until later this month if hired.

Some of the Lakers players are already backing the potential hiring of Jackson.

“He’d be great,” Dwight Howard told the LA Times. “There’s a lot I can learn from him. But until he comes, we’ve got to put faith in Bernie [Bickerstaff].”

Jackson once said that if he could pick one player to start a franchise with, it would be Howard and not LeBron James. The chance to now coach Howard in L.A. and chase some more titles might be enough to entice the Zen Master.

Former assistants Jim Cleamons and Kurt Rambis are ready to re-join Jackson on the sidelines if he does return, according to Yahoo! Sports.

D’Antoni would be an interesting fit in L.A. because of his history of not being a defensive-minded coach. To be fair, D’Antoni has almost always had Amare Stoudemire on his team and that never makes it easy to play great defense. Howard would be about the biggest possible upgrade from Stoudemire in terms of defense and could make it so D’Antoni’s system is able to more closely compete for a title.

There is Steve Nash’s history with D’Antoni which also must be considered. Nash thrived under D’Antoni winning two MVP’s and making it to the Western Conference Finals twice. Nash did not look like he was going to be used right in the Princeton offense and the Triangle offense also doesn’t feature a point guard much.

There have been a few other names mentioned as possible replacement candidates for the Lakers head coaching position. Former Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan is among the candidates as well as Brian Shaw and Mike Dunleavy.

The Thunder have signed Brooks to a 4-year deal worth a little over $4 million per year.

The two sides were working on a deal ever since the NBA Finals ended a few weeks ago. At first, the Thunder wanted to sign Brooks for three years while Brooks wanted four.

The Thunder offered Brooks a 4-year, $16 million contract that Brooks turned down a few days ago.

It was only a matter of time before the two sides came to an agreement.

Thunder GM Sam Presti said all along that Brooks was very important to the team and the culture they have established in Oklahoma City.

Brooks made around $2 million per season the last two years. For perspective, Erik Spoelstra makes around $3 million per year, Tom Thibodeau makes around $2 million, Rick Carlisle makes $4.5 million and Gregg Popovich is closer to $6 million.

There were rumors a week or so ago that the Thunder and Brooks were not close on a deal and that OKC would pursue a candidate like Phil Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy if they could not work it out with Brooks.

Presti dispelled those rumors as “rubbish” when asked about them.

Brooks has been great for the Thunder so far but he hasn’t been perfect. Brooks was outcoached in the NBA Finals and failed to make necessary, obvious adjustments to give his guys a better chance of beating the Heat.

Like the Thunder, Brooks will learn from that series and expect the Thunder to come back next season much stronger, led by Brooks.

“As we’ve said before, Scotty is an integral part of our organization and critical to our success,” Presti said. “And we value him greatly. We’re looking forward to having those conversations, as he said, in the coming days. But he’s been integral to our success. We wouldn’t be in the situation that we’re in without him and his commitment to the organization and to our players.”

Presit was asked about the rumors from earlier this week that the Thunder would pursue Phil Jackson or Jeff Van Gundy if they couldn’t work it out with Brooks.

“To me, it’s rubbish,” Presti said.

Brooks will more than likely get an extension in the next few days. Sources said that Brooks wanted a deal with four years guaranteed and the Thunder would rather give him just two or three.

Presti and the Thunder organization are committed to what they have right now from the players to the coaching staff. They came close this year to winning the title and they feel no need to shake things up too much to improve their chances of getting back to the Finals.

The NBA Draft is this Thursday and the Thunder hold the 28th pick. It has been thought that they would rather move the pick then draft a player they’d have to pay for the next few seasons, especially when priority No. 1 is to do everything possible to keep James Harden and Serge Ibaka.

“We have the 28th pick, and we’re going to look to see what’s there that we might be able to add to our team, whether it’s now or in the future,” Presti said. “I wouldn’t say that we’re looking to move our draft pick. I’ve read that some places. If there’s a player on the board that we feel like fits our organization, fits our identity, we’ll draft him. If we feel like there’s a better way to use the draft pick, then we’ll look at that.”

The Thunder are unlikely to draft a player that late in the first round that is able to contribute significantly by next season.

There is some potential with a few players that will be available around those rounds, mostly players who stayed in college for three or four seasons.

The Thunder organization has been compared to San Antonio who became a dynasty largely due to their savvy draft choices late in the first round and in the second round. That is one of the next steps for this Thunder franchise to become a dynasty.

Presti isn’t calling the Thunder a dynasty yet, they surely need to win one title before they can be crowned that, but Harden used the word a few times during his exit interview.

“I didn’t realize James was such an aficionado of 80s television,” Presti said of Harden.