Bennett: “syl seattle lol”

Lawyers for the city of Seattle scored a virtual slam dunk in the city’s trial with Sonics’ ownership on Wednesday.

The turning point came when the city revealed a series of enthusiastic text messages between Clay Bennett and other members of the Professional Basketball Club that confirmed their intent to move the team to Oklahoma City from the beginning.

“omg ok sncs ftw,” declared Bennett in a text sent to co-owner Aubrey McClendon on October 24, 2006, the day the NBA approved the sale of the team.

“lol gmta,” McClendon responded.

“After yesterday’s absolute nonsense from Mr. Bennett on the witness stand, we felt it was time to pull out our ace,” said Paul Lawrence, the city’s lead attorney.

In an argument that even an inbred brain-damaged golden retriever could see through, Bennett argued in court on Tuesday that when he said “I am a man possessed,” in reply to a co-owner’s email about moving the team to Oklahoma City, he meant that he was trying hard to keep the team in Seattle.

“These text messages are going to be much harder to explain away, even for a highly skilled liar such as Mr. Bennett,” said Lawrence.

In another of the text exchanges, Bennett told co-owner Tom Ward that “rotflol seattle is sol. sncs r cmng 2 ok.”

Ward replied: “seattle can kmsma.”

Bennett and his co-owners exchanged dozens of similar messages in late 2006 and throughout 2007. The conversations were admitted into evidence Wednesday, and Bennett is expected to return to the stand on Thursday to deliver even more unbelievable perjury.

When asked for a comment on the new evidence, Sonics’ attorney Paul Taylor dodged the question. “How about let’s focus on how thoroughly I shredded the city’s ‘intangible benefits’ argument,” he said. “I was really on a roll yesterday with that one.”

The new evidence all but assures that the city will win the hollow victory it seeks, forcing the NBA’s worst team to spend another two years in Seattle.