In terms of NBA conspiracies, this probably won’t register a blip on the radar, but Sacramento Kings fans can’t help but scratch their heads over an apparent snub from NBATV. A nationally televised game is a rarity for the Kings — four scheduled appearances this season, none on TNT or ESPN — and fans were looking forward to a prime time moment where they could send a visual and vocal statement to the league, showing support for their possibly soon-to-be-relocated franchise.
Thus, the local fan support movement “Here We Buy” pegged a February 9th showdown with the Utah Jazz as its coming out party. It’s the final national TV appearance for the Kings this season, and Sleep Train Arena will be packed to the rafters with ravenous cowbell-ringin’, Maloof-hatin’, Kevin Johnson-lovin’ Kings faithful. One small problem though: the game has mysteriously disappeared from the NBATV schedule.
An updated schedule shows NBA GameTime, NBATV’s studio show, in its place. And the change doesn’t appear to be a glitch either, as evidenced by ESPN.com, the Kings’ official schedule and the national TV schedule. There hasn’t been an official explanation (the only one we can think of is NBATV is showing a Kings-Jazz game on Monday, and opted out of airing a rematch five days later), but with all the uncertainty surrounding the Kings these days, this only adds a bit of extra spice to the story.
