Maloofs Gain Control of Kings

The NBA Board of Governors on Friday approved Joe and Gavin Maloof’s purchase of a majority interest in the Sacramento Kings and Arco Arena from Jim Thomas.

The ownership change will be effective July 1. The Maloof brothers have already been exerting control over the franchise.

The Maloof family, which owned the Houston Rockets from 1979-82, purchased a one-quarter interest in the Kings one year ago for $37.5 million, with an option to purchase the rest of Thomas’ 53% interest within five years.

Thomas is an L.A.-based developer who purchased the team in 1992.

The Maloof family owns the Fiesta Casino Hotel in North Las Vegas, Nev., and holdings including a beer distributorship in Albuquerque and several banks, a transportation company and other businesses operating in New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.

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The Board of Governors also broke several draft order ties. Utah won a tiebreaker over San Antonio and will pick 28th instead of 29th, an Orlando-Miami-Indiana tiebreaker left Utah, which owns the Magic’s pick, selecting 24th, the Heat 25th and the Pacers 26th.

A New York-Phoenix-Sacramento tiebreaker put the Knicks 15th, the Suns 16th and the Hawks, who own the Kings’ pick, 17th, and an Atlanta-Houston-Laker tie was broken with the Hawks choosing 21st, the Rockets 22nd and the Lakers 23rd.

In the only draft lottery tiebreaker, Boston defeated Dallas. Boston will have 37 chances out of 1,000 to get the first overall pick, while the Suns--who have the rights to Dallas’ pick--will have 38 chances. If neither team wins one of the top three picks, Phoenix will have the next pick after Boston.

The lottery will be held May 22 in Secaucus, N.J.

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Washington Wizard Rod Strickland pleaded not guilty in Washington to charges of driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless driving.

He also requested a jury trial, which was set for Aug. 13. The charges stem from an April 24 arrest after police said they saw Strickland, 32, run three red lights and change lanes without signaling.

Strickland could not be found for an earlier scheduled court appearance Friday, and a traffic court commissioner issued a bench warrant for his arrest. His attorney said he had missed a flight from Atlanta, and the warrant was revoked when Strickland appeared at a rescheduled arraignment.

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NBA referee Blaine Reichelt, an 18-year veteran, faces up to nine months in prison and must pay off back taxes after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges in U.S. District Court in Orlando, Fla.

Reichelt, 48, filed false tax forms from 1989 to 1994 and failed to show thousands of dollars worth of income from trading in airline tickets, according to the indictment. He is expected to resign Monday. He would be eligible to reapply for his job in six months.

Sentencing was set for June 10 in Fort Myers, Fla.

Reichelt is one of 10 NBA refereed who have pleaded guilty to tax fraud charges following an investigation by the IRS.

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The partnership that holds a 48.3% interest in the Boston Celtics announced that it lost more than $9 million in a nine-month period, although it earned $1.4 million in the last three months of that period.

For the nine-month period ending March 31, 1999, the partnership and its subsidiaries reported a net loss of $9.3 million, or $3.38 a unit.

But net income for the three months ending March 31 amounted to 50 cents a unit.