NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Commissioner David Stern says the NBA is talking to a couple of buyers for the Hornets and hopes to have a deal by March 1.
Stern did not name the potential buyers during an NBA TV interview but said, “we’re down to one in the lead and a second” candidate and awaiting further events.
He said the league is “very close” on a deal that is moving on dual tracks with a buyer and contributions from the state of Louisiana “under a new lease.” The commissioner said both deals will likely be completed on or about March 1.
Stern said the deal can’t be closed until the legislature confirms the role of the state and the legislature will not convene until March.
Stern said the buyer will keep the Hornets in New Orleans and doesn’t think it was a mistake for the NBA to buy the team.
“We had a city that had stood by us and we by it. A state that had supported us and we it,” he said.
Former Hornets owner George Shinn was saddled with too much debt to continue operating the club effectively and needed to sell. Shinn has said he did not want to sell the team to someone who would immediately move it out of Louisiana.
However, he also could not reach a deal to sell his shares of the club to then-minority owner Gary Chouest, a Louisiana native and owner of a thriving business that builds and operates supply boats to the offshore oil and gas industries.
Stern said we the league intervened because the Hornets had an owner who was tired and didn’t have the resources to continue.
“So we stepped in rather than make it a free-for-all,” he said.
Stern said that although the team has struggled since the Chris Paul trade, which brought guard Eric Gordon and several others to New Orleans, overall the commissioner is satisfied with the way things have played out.
“The good news for us is that the team is not in bankruptcy, it’s been an orderly transition,” he said. “Ticket sales are up, sponsorships sales are up and the city seems to be supporting the team even though it’s struggling a bit.”
Stern said he is not second-guessing any of his decisions.
“Do I have pause that Eric Gordon is injured and the main player in the (Paul) trade hasn’t played? No, that’s what happens.”
 
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