Murray, Cantwell ask NBA to postpone vote on Sonics move

Washington state's U.S. senators today added their voices to growing calls for the NBA to postpone a scheduled vote on allowing the Sonics to move to Oklahoma City.

In a letter to NBA Commissioner David Stern, Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell said recently disclosed e-mails show "Clay Bennett and the other new owners never intended a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle."

"We believe that attempting to allow a move away from Seattle at this time would be a breach of trust and set a damaging precedent for the NBA," Murray and Cantwell wrote in their letter. "Rather than vote to allow the owners to move the Sonics, we ask that you allow appropriate time for good faith efforts to find a way to keep this team in Seattle."

Murray has been personally lobbying some NBA owners to vote against the relocation, said spokeswoman Alex Glass. She did not say which owners Murray had contacted.

The NBA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet in New York tomorrow and Friday. The board, made up of 30 NBA team owners, is widely expected to approve Bennett's request to move the team to Oklahoma City as early as next season.

Murray today also called Joel Litvin, the NBA's President of League and Basketball Operations, asking him to postpone the relocation vote. Glass said.

The NBA, however, has given no indication it will delay the vote.