Stern: NBA won’t return to Seattle if team leaves

NBA Commissioner David Stern warned Thursday that if the SuperSonics leave Seattle he sees no way the league would ever return to the city.

“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.”

At a news conference following his announcement that the 2009 All-Star game would be held in Phoenix, Stern criticized the city of Seattle and the Washington legislature for its handling of the issue of funding a replacement for KeyArena.

Stern repeated earlier criticism of the mayor and city council for promoting a measure, overwhelmingly passed by voters, that requires any funds to help build an arena earn money at the same rate as a treasury bill.

That measure simply means there is no way city money would ever be used on an arena project, Stern said.

He also lamented that the state legislature refused to even consider continuing a tax that helped fund Seattle’s baseball and football stadiums.

SuperSonics owner Clay Bennett told the NBA last Friday that he plans to move the team to Oklahoma City. When that move would occur depends on the outcome of litigation with the city over the franchise’s KeyArena lease. The lease calls for the team to play in Seattle through the 2009-10 season, but Bennett wants out sooner.

Denver Nuggets power forward Nene is expected to miss up to six weeks because of a torn ligament in his left thumb.

Nene was injured in Denver’s 119-93 loss at Boston on Wednesday night. He saw a hand specialist in Denver and the team said he would have surgery today.

Celtics forward James Posey was being treated for lower back spasms, a day after he was injured in Boston’s win over Denver. Posey was diagnosed with a lumbar disk herniation after an MRI exam and is undergoing treatment. He is listed as day-to-day.