After months of sitting on the sideline, the NBA has finally entered the high-stakes game between Clay Bennett and Howard Schultz.

Obviously, Commissioner David Stern is pulling for Bennett, who bought the Sonics and paid a $45 million buyout to move the team to Oklahoma City. Stern filed a motion Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to block Schultz's lawsuit which would rescind the 2006 sale of the team.

Schultz claims he was deceived when he sold the team and wants to put it into a collective trust and sell to an "honest buyer."

Stern says that's impossible because the league constitution doesn't allow teams to be put into a collective trust. If there was a dispute in the sale, ironically, Stern becomes the caretaker of the team and decides the course of action.

The team-formerly-known-as-the-Sonics took the court today against the Indiana Pacers in the Orlando Pro Summer League. The Oklahoma City team wore generic jerseys, however, it was a stark contrast from the old green and gold garb of the Sonics.

Here's a few pics.

Oklahoma City's Guard Russell Westbrook (0) scrambles for a loose ball against Indiana Pacers' Earl Calloway during an NBA summer league basketball game in Orlando, Fla., Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Here's our latest story.

Just wanted to provide a place where anyone can vent.

That's what the Oklahoman is reporting on their website in this story.

Apparently, City Councilmember Richard McIiver says talks are being held up by Howard Schultz's lawsuit.

"I hear that they were trying to work one up but I didn't know whether they were successful or not," Councilman Richard McIver told The Oklahoman . "And I thought it was around something where (the Sonics owners) were trying to get Seattle to involve Schultz's suit withdrawal and that didn't come out, so I guess it fell apart."

I'm making phone calls trying to confirm if talks are ongoing.

Judge Marsha Pechman is scheduled to post her ruling in the trial at 4 p.m.

Second-year forward Jeff Green and rookie Russell Westbrook highlight the Sonics summer league roster, which begins the Orlando Pro Summer League on Monday. Rookie Serge Ibaka, taken 24th in last week draft, will not compete.

Six teams will play five games at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando. The games are closed to the public.

The other teams (and their top rookies) include: Chicago (Derrick Rose), Indiana (Brandon Rush and Roy Hibbert), New Jersey (Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson, Chris Douglas-Roberts), Miami (Michael Beasley and Mario Chalmers) and Orlando (Courtney Lee).

Here's the Sonics roster.

No. Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate From 2007-08 Season

0 Russell Westbrook G 6-3 190 11/12/88 UCLA UCLA

2 Devin Green F 6-7 210 10/25/82 Hampton Italy

3 D.J. White F 6-9 250 8/31/86 Indiana Indiana

5 Mykal Riley F 6-6 185 7/14/85 Alabama Alabama

8 Ndudi Ebi F 6-9 200 6/18/84 Westbury Christian HS (TX) Israel

11 Aaron Bruce G 6-3 185 12/19/84 Baylor Baylor

12 Ronald Dupree F 6-7 210 1/26/81 Louisiana State Sonics/Det/NBDL

22 Jeff Green F 6-9 235 8/28/86 Georgetown Sonics

23 Ronell Taylor G 6-5 200 7/26/82 UAB Slovenia

30 Justin Williams F/C 6-10 260 5/12/84 Wyoming Sac/Hou

42 Brian Randle F 6-8 220 2/8/85 Illinois Illinois

44 Nick Lewis F/C 6-10 235 4/20/83 San Diego NBDL

50 DeVon Hardin C 6-11 250 6/3/86 California California

Coaches: Scott Brooks, Ralph Lewis, Mark Bryant, Brian Keefe
Assistant Coach/Dir. Of Video Scouting: Walt Rock
Assistant Coach/Athletic Performance: Dwight Daub
Athletic Trainer: Mike Shimensky
Equipment Manager: Marc St. Yves

Date Matchup Pacific Time (PT) Location
Monday, July 7 vs. Indiana 12 p.m. RDV Sportsplex
Tuesday, July 8 vs. Orlando 2 p.m.* RDV Sportsplex
Wednesday, July 9 vs. New Jersey 2 p.m.* RDV Sportsplex
Thursday, July 10 vs. Miami 4 p.m.** RDV Sportsplex
Friday, July 11 vs. Chicago 10 a.m.* RDV Sportsplex

It's a little old, but in case you missed it, here's an excerpt of Times reporter Benjamin J. Romano exclusive iinterview with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that ran Sunday.

Q: Do you have any interest, given what's unfolding in Seattle right now, in bringing an NBA team here or keeping an NBA team here?

Steve Ballmer: A group of us tried to see if we couldn't at least help get an arena built here, because I think it would be nice to have a basketball team in Seattle. I like the sport. I think, you know, I want us to be a first-rate community, and I think it helps attract people and say this is a first-rate place to have all the big pro sports teams.

So I'd love to see Seattle have a team, and I think it's now well documented publicly, a group of us offered to put up some money to help fix up KeyArena and, if need, be buy a team.

Q: Do you remain interested in that?

Ballmer: Well, it's sort of one of these things where you get a chicken-and-the-egg situation. The current team is moving. Somebody needs to get a new team, and you've got to get a new arena. It's not clear whether you get the arena before the team or the team before the arena. We had a team and we couldn't get an arena.

It's not clear how you football the process, but I'm supportive of everybody's efforts along those lines.

Here's a link to the entire Q&A.

The Sonics traded their No. 32 and 46 picks in the second round to the Detroit Pistons for Indiana forward D.J. White, who was taken with the 29th pick.

White, 6-9 and 251 pounds, played four seasons with the Hoosiers and started three. He missed most of his sophomore season because of a broken left foot.

White averaged 14.6 points duriing his IU career and is the school's 16th all-time leading scorer. White is a legitimate power forward, who is the eventual replacement to Chris Wilcox. Wilcox has a year remaining on his contract.

A strange draft for the Sonics continues down the road of the bizzare. The Sonics took 6-10 C/F Serge Ibaka. That's right, Serge Ibaka.

I don't know how good he is, but he's got the best bio in the draft. His full name: Serge Jonas Ibaka Ngobila. He's 18. He has 17 siblings. He grew up in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

His bio says: "His grandmother survived the civil unrest in the Congo in the mid-to-late 1990s in a house witih no electricity or running water. He learned basketball playing on outdoor courts wearing shoes with cardboard inserts to coer the holes in the soles."

Wow. Again, no one knows if he can play basketball. He averaged 11.3 poiints, 8.2 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in 26 games in the Spanish LEB Gold league.

it's likely the Sonics will keep Ibaka overseas to mature and bring him over next year.