The Oklahoma City businessman who owns the SuperSonics says he is losing hope that a way will be found to keep the NBA team in Seattle.

"I'm probably as pessimistic as I've been," Clay Bennett told The Oklahoman Tuesday. "Not to say I've lost complete hope. We'll evaluate thoroughly any potential lead, but we're out of ideas."

Bennett said he has begun preliminary discussions with Oklahoma City and Kansas City about possible relocation.

"My expectation and my belief is that if we leave Seattle, we're quite likely headed to Oklahoma City," Bennett said. "But that decision has to be made with appropriate due diligence. We have to do that work. Just can't proclaim we're moving here."

He said that when he and his partners first bought the Seattle SuperSonics last summer, he would drive around the Puget Sound area marveling.

"I couldn't get my hands around what good fortune, to have a team in that marketplace with a new facility," said Bennett. "I really thought we would get a deal done. An extraordinary opportunity.

"But lately, I don't have those same feelings."