Sonics rookie Kevin Durant will be named the league's Rookie of the Year on Thursday, beating out Hawks' rookie Al Horford for the honor, Percy Allen of the Seattle Times is reporting.

The source which revealed the information did so anonymously since the official announcement is not expected to come until Thursday.

Durant led all rookies in scoring, assists and free-throw percentage, and will become the first Sonic to receive the honor.

RealGM Note: Horford had a higher season FIC than Durant (882 to 763) and a higher per 40 FIC (13.9 to 11.0).

The Oklahoma City Council has approved the final portion of the lease terms with the SuperSonics, the Associated Press is reporting, including a requirement that the team name must include 'Oklahoma City'.

City special projects manager Tom Anderson says that clause was inadvertently included in the initial letter of intent with the Sonics, but Tuesday's agreement makes it binding.

NBA Commissioner David Stern will not be called on to testify in the court case between the city of Seattle and the Supersonics, the Associated Press is reporting.

The city is trying to keep the Sonics from moving, forcing the team to complete the final two years of a lease agreement for Seattle's KeyArena, the NBA's smallest venue.

"I would rather spend my time working," Stern said. "But if the judge orders me to testify, I'll testify. We don't have anything to hide."

Despite all the recent attention and lawsuits that Sonic owners are receiving about their attempted move from Seattle to Oklahoma City, NBA Commissioner David Stern still thinks the move will go ahead, the Associated Press are reporting.

"Subject to all lawful orders of the court, the Sonics are moving to Oklahoma City, whether it's the end of this season, next season, or the season after that," Stern said Friday. "Could I imagine circumstances, without precedent, where some court does something? It would be hard to imagine there would be any circumstances legally that would preclude the Sonics from moving at the end of their lease."

More emails have come to light which could put the Sonics' move to Oklahoma City in jeopardy, or at least slow the process, Gregg Bell from the Associated Press is reporting.

The new emails show that the NBA was concerned last summer that Sonics owners may be breaching their contractual promise of good-faith efforts to find a new arena in Seattle.

In court documents provided Thursday by attorneys representing the city, Bennett stated in an e-mail to Sonics co-owner Aubrey McClendon last Aug. 13 that the NBA was looking into issues "relative to certain documents that we signed at closing that may have been breached."

Bennett wrote that president of league and basketball operations Joel Litvin was looking into the possible breach.

Former Sonics' owner Harold Schultz has filed a lawsuit in federal court to rescind his July 2006 sale of the Sonics to Clay Bennett and other Oklahoma City investors, saying that he was lied to, Percy Allen of the Seattle Times is reporting.

According to Allen, Schultz's lawsuit discloses a new e-mail, written two days before the sale, in which Bennett tells his prospective ownership group that he could simply sell the team in a "sweet flip" if an arena deal was reached here and they were forced to stay in Seattle.

As a result, the suit claims that the Oklahoma City group "never intended to own a team that would continue playing in Seattle and that Mr. Bennett lied."

Detroit Pistons' President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars announced today that the club has hired Scott Perry as Vice President of Basketball Operations.

?We are pleased to welcome back Scott Perry to the Pistons' basketball operations staff,? said Dumars. ?Scott is familiar with the culture of our team and understands our goals we have as an organization. Given his past experience with the club, I feel the transition will be seamless.?

Perry, 44, re-joins the Pistons after serving as assistant general manager for the Seattle Supersonics for the 2007-08 campaign.

If the Sonics move to Oklahoma City, they will remain in the Northwest division even though geologically Oklahoma City is closer to the teams in the Southwest division, Darnell Mayberry from NewsOK.com is reporting.

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, has said too many teams in the Texas and Oklahoma region is bad for the league.

"There's not enough TV weight,? Cuban said earlier this month before the Sonics played the Mavs in Dallas. "There's not enough demand from a TV perspective from outside that little area. It's nice, but when you've got San Antonio versus Dallas, which you'd think is a great marquee matchup, no one outside our area (cares). That's bad. You don't expand the market at all.?

The NBA Board of Governors today endorsed the recommendation of the NBA Relocation Committee and approved the move of the SuperSonics from Seattle to Oklahoma City for the 2008-09 season, subject to a resolution of the pending litigation between the Sonics and the city of Seattle that removes any requirement for the team to play at KeyArena for the next two seasons.

?The support for the NBA demonstrated by the fans, government leaders and business community of Oklahoma City over the last three years has been extraordinary,? said NBA Commissioner David Stern.  ?The Board of Governors is confident that that level of local support will result in success for the Sonics franchise in Oklahoma."

Paul Allen and Mark Cuban were reportedly the only owners to vote against the move.

Sonics' owner Clay Bennett has fired back at Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels in court documents of a "Machiavellian plan" to force Bennett to sell the team back to Seattle investors, the Seattle Times are reporting.

According to the report, documents obtained by the Sonics' lawyers show the city's lawsuit "has nothing to do with the last two years of the [Sonics' KeyArena] lease."

"This litigation and the recent media frenzy the City helped ignite are part of an agreed-upon strategy between the City and a potential purchaser of the Sonics," said the court filing, referring to a local investor group led by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Sonics' attorneys are seeking a court order to publicly reveal evidence of what they call the city's "significant duplicity."