Maybe Kevin Durant Saved the Sonics

Last April, while Clay Bennett and his partners were negotiating a way out of their Key Arena least, I wrote a piece for the P-I arguing that the only thing that could save the Sonics was getting one of the top two picks in the draft.

I didn't really think they would get one of the first two picks, but they did.

Still, my prediction was looking pretty bad.

But an email from Clay Bennett to his partner Tom Ward indicates that drafting Durant may have played a pretty large part in keeping the Sonics here.

This, reported by the P-I, is from June 11, 2007:

Ward: Is Seattle negotiating the release of the arena?

Bennett: We had begun initial discussions which the deputy mayor was receptive to. The buzz around the draft pick caused the mayor last week to put the brakes on things.

Woo-hoo! Yay for ping pong balls!