TIBCO CEO Vivek Ranadive isn’t merely content with his successful 11th-hour rescue operation of the Sacramento Kings. He’s on a mission to prove to the eight NBA owners who approved a relocation of the Kings to Seattle that they really screwed up:
.@Vivek on 8 franchises that voted with Seattle:”We’re going to beat those teams.”
— Dale Kasler (@dakasler) October 4, 2013
Ranadive almost assuredly knows who the eight owners/teams are, but the general public can only speculate. The Portland Trailblazers are as close to a certainty as we have, considering Paul Allen’s relationship with soon-to-be former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. There was widespread speculation that Jeanie Buss voted for a move (due to future hubby Phil Jackson’ near-certain involvement in a Chris Hansen-led front office) but she shot down those rumors in a radio interview.
Mark Cuban was another logical choice, considering he was one of two owners who voted against the Sonics’ relocation to Oklahoma City (something about how big markets are critical to the NBA — crazy, right?). Anyway, we could probably come up with a motive for every owner, so we’ll stop there.
As for Randive’s “threat”, it should be noted that the best player in his organization might be a 50-year-old Hall of Fame sharpshooter whose current position is that of “adviser”. In other words, good luck with that.
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