Stern: "If Sonics leave Seattle, NBA won't return"

At the end of his press conference announcing that the 2009 all-star game will be in Phoenix, NBA commissioner David Stern decided to throw a little fuel onto the Sonics ongoing relocation questions. The main quote:
"I'd love to find a way to keep the team there," he said, "because if the team moves, there's not going to be another team there, not in any conceivable future plan that I could envision, and that would be too bad."
While Stern has been outspoken in the past regarding his desire to see Seattle provide public funds to the replacement for Key Arena, this was the first time he put out such a threat to the city.
I want the Sonics in OKC as much as anyone (and judging by the mainstream media coverage, anyone consists of 3,579,212 Oklahomans), but this smacks of desperation by Stern. While I fully believe Bennett will move the team (is there really any doubt?), I also believe that Stern in his heart knows the best thing for the NBA is not a franchise in a mid-sized market. I'm just not sure that his trademark insults work as well when directed at an entire city, as opposed to Dan Patrick.

My take on the situation. Clay Bennett bought the Sonics, knowing he was in a win-win situation. Either he would get the the City of Seattle to build the Sonics a new arena, in which case the value of the Sonics would dramatically increase, or he would get to relocate the team to Oklahoma. Those of you that think his only goal is to bring the Sonics to Oklahoma are being short-sighted. Bennett is a businessman first and an Oklahoman second. Stern knows that Bennet will move the team, but also knows talks are going nowhere, so he tries to 'stimulate' the city by threatening to never return. But as discontent continues to grow in the Emerald city, he might be actually pushing the team further away.