Today, David Stern relayed that he received an update on the progress of the sale of the Detroit Pistons. Stern said that he hopes the sale will "move its way along" and that he is "looking for something definitive to happen in the month of November." Why November? Stern explains:
Asked why he expected next steps in November, Stern replied "there's an exclusive negotiating period being undertaken. My guess is that it's going to expire in about 10 days. There's a lot of work going on. I would think that gets to be about November 1. Then with the to and fro, by the end of November, I would hope there would be a formal agreement that would mature. ... There seem to be an interested potential buyer, an interested seller. They're doing lots of due diligence, lots of interviews, examination of documents. In a normal course, it sounds like the 45 days or so, 40 days, is a good time to think that there would be a successful agreement."
Originally the hope was that the Pistons would be sold before the start of the season. Considering the season starts in less than a week, though, it obviously isn't expected to happen. Even so, if the sale can continue moving forward in the coming weeks and start to move closer to completion in November, it would be a good thing for the franchise and everybody involved.