On Wednesday, the Las Vegas Sun reported that an NBA team is "under contract" with an investment group that has plans to move the team to Las Vegas. The plan is contingent on a few things, including approval for the building of a new arena in Las Vegas. The team involved in this supposed deal was unnamed, but that didn't stop speculation about the Pistons being the mystery franchise since they are for sale.
With speculation getting a bit out of control on Wednesday, both the NBA and Pistons released a statement on Thursday to clear things up a bit.
The NBA flat out denied the story.
“We categorically deny that there is an NBA team under contract,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank told the Free Press today.
The Pistons obviously can't speak for what other teams are doing, but they made it clear that this investment group is not involved with them and there are no plans for the team to move.
"While there is no substantive news to report regarding the sale of the Detroit Pistons, our ownership group has absolutely nothing to do with any proposal that would move the team to Las Vegas," the statement read. "As stated since the beginning of this process, the preference is to find an ownership group that is committed to Detroit and the surrounding area."
Considering there seems to be quite a few local people/investment groups interested in buying the Pistons, I wouldn't be too concerned about the possibility of losing the team just yet. Now, if some out-of-towner comes in and buys the team, then I would worry a bit just because you don't know how committed he would be to keeping the team in Michigan. Anybody local, however, would undoubtedly have no plans for the Pistons to move unless it was to downtown Detroit, and even then that would probably only happen if the Ilitches were involved in buying the team. Basically, the chances of the Pistons leaving Auburn Hills anytime soon is not likely.