The NBA revealed it's All-Rookie Teams today, and by and large there weren't any huge surprises. But can you guess who the only unanimous choice to the first team was? If you guessed Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant ... you'd be wrong.

Actually, it was Al Horford, who finished with 29 first-place votes. Durant finished with 28. It's too bad the ballots aren't open -- I'd love to see which NBA coach actually thought Durant was no better than the sixth-best rookie this year. (Remember, coaches can't vote for their own players but aren't limited by position.) Luis Scola (26 first place votes), Al Thornton (20) and Jeff Green (15) rounded out the first team.

On the second team is Jamario Moon (12), Juan Carlos Navarro (5), Thaddeus Young (4), Rodney Stuckey (5) and Carl Landry (1). Other players receiving first place votes include Joakim Noah (1), Nick Young (2), Mike Conley (1) and Corey Brewer (1).

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. The Sporting Blog: Shoals on the humanization of Kobe Bryant.

2. Hardwood Paroxysm: Forget what I said, David West should actually mouth off more.

3. Gilbert Arenas: If Antawn Jamison isn't in Washington, then Gilbert's not staying either.

4. Supersonicsoul: The Sonics are staying in Seattle!

5. We Rite Goode: Why Chris Paul is smarter than Janeane Garafolo.

6. Basketbawful: Spurs-Hornets summed up in a single photo.

That grating, annoying sound you here? That's the table turning in Seattle. Greg Johns of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports the Sonics have accused the city of leading a conspiracy to drive a wedge between the franchise and the NBA, using a local developer, local billionaires, and a law firm to gang up on poor little Clay Bennett.

In their latest motion, the Sonics lawyers renewed previous charges that the city's lawsuit over the KeyArena lease is part of a plan designed to force a sale to [local developer Matt] Griffin's group instead of merely solving a dispute over the lease's specific performance clause.

"Particularly based on over a thousand additional documents Griffin just produced, it is clear that the plan from the start was to use this litigation to create financial bleeding for the (Pro Basketball Club) to force them to sell to Griffin's group," the motion says.

The Sonics also claim former Sen. Slade Gorton, working on behalf of the city, has turned a former exec under Bennett into a mole for the Seattle cause. They're aiming to get a slew of private documents opened up, apparently to embarrass the Seattle folks into remission ... as David Stern has been trying to do with his own allegations of bad faith.

Yes, it's incredibly satisfying to hear Bennett chirping about deception. Of course, this doesn't matter -- any potential wedge between franchise and league ultimately failed, as the owners approved the OKC relocation 28-2. The league no longer matters, except in the case of attempting to guarantee an expansion team, which is apparently already on the table in settlement negotiations.

The news blurb that stated P.J. Carlesimo would return as head coach of the, um, Sonics was kind of sad. Not that P.J. was coming back -- you could argue either way whether he deserved to be in charge of a team that has little or no direction except East for the immediate moment. It was sad because the term "Seattle" did not get thrown around once.

Sonics coach P.J. Carlesimo will return next season, the team said Thursday, ending speculation he would be fired after the team won just 20 games in his first year with the Sonics.

General manager Sam Presti said at a news conference that Carlesimo would be back. Two weeks ago, Presti gave only a vague answer when asked if there would be any coaching staff changes, Carlesimo included.

See? Crafty newspapers. Point being that Carlesimo will be back to coach Kevin Durant in 2009. We might not know where he will be coaching KD at this particular moment, but he will be back.

I find it hard to envision that Carlesimo is the coach of the long term future plans for Seattle, but his quasi-disciplinarian attitude that focuses on defense is a good fit for a young team that is still establishing it's identity. 20 wins isn't "great" or even "good", but the Sonics put up some fights this season, and given that they were basically punting this year anyway, props to P.J. for sticking around.

In news that should shock approximately no one, Kevin Durant will win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, the Seattle Times reported early Wednesday.

Durant averaged 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists this season with the Sonics, in what may end up being their last in Seattle. Some argued that Atlanta Hawks rookie Al Horford was more deserving, considering his better overall stat line and the fact that the Atlanta Hawks are, you know, still playing basketball and didn't suffer another completely abysmal season. Still others questioned Durant's legitimacy based on his poor shooting percentage, but a late surge helped to quell that tide.

Durant is certainly going to be a dynamic offensive staple for this team, wherever it goes, and whatever it's called. However, to see such a phenomenal talent on a team wrapped in such bitter affairs only seems to make it that much more tragic.

The award is little more than a formality, and has been since Portland Trailblazers' rookie Greg Oden went down with knee surgery before the start of the season. And while there have been other rookies that made an impact for their team, Rockets' forward Luis Scola being one, Durant was simply too much of an offensive focal point to be denied.

Durant will accept the award later today at a team function in downtown Seattle. Where I come from, we call that "rubbing it in."

The minor thrill/nightmare (depending on perspective) of David Stern taking the stand in the city of Seattle's suit against the exiting Sonics will not happen, a judge ruled today. Instead, the league has to hand over some documents relating to its relocation proceedings, and Stern might have to give a deposition at some point prior to the June 17 trial.

Stern (a recovering attorney himself, you might have heard) on the stand would have been enthralling if nothing else. He has maintained throughout the entire slog his OKC owners have acted in good faith, despite overwhelming and obvious evidence to the contrary. Could he keep up the charade under oath? Would he dare unveil his salty attitude in the hallowed halls of federal court? Sigh, we may never know. (UPDATE: As resident legal expert Stephanie Stradley notes in the comments, depositions are given under oath as well.)

It's a good thing for the league, though, inasmuch as the league doesn't need a spectacle when this thing hits the trial docket. It's a big deal still; the fate of two seasons of NBA Basketball Starring Kevin Durant (and Maybe Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley) hangs between the scales of justice ... this is no small matter, the delay Seattle seeks and the Sonics seek to avoid. But without some star witness like Stern, it's no photogenic event. It'll snag some headlines, but it won't lead Sportscenter. Stern's got to be thrilled at that.

From now on, I'm guessing Clay Bennett and the rest of the Sonics ownership group will stick to telegraph and messenger pigeon, or at the very least conference calls. Even more emails have emerged that put the group in bad light, suggesting they never intended to keep the Sonics in Seattle (shocking!), and that the NBA began to suspect as much last year.

After minority owner Aubrey McClendon went on the record last summer saying they always intended to move the team to Oklahoma City, Bennett warned the group that he was worried about the legal ramifications, since the team was contractually obligated to make a "good faith effort" to stay in Seattle. From Jim Brunner of the Seattle Times:

"Yes sir, we get killed on this one. I don't mind the PR ugliness (pretty used to it), but I am concerned from a legal standpoint that your statement could perhaps undermine our basic premise of 'good faith best efforts'... "

Bennett also told his fellow owners that McClendon's comment had prompted the NBA to take a closer look at their "good faith" promise:

In an e-mail last August, Sonics owner Clay Bennett told fellow owner Aubrey McClendon that NBA executive Joel Litvin was "looking into certain documents we signed at closing that may have been breached."

Howard Schultz filed suit Tuesday to rescind his sale of the Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. Schultz had indicated previously that he was considering the move, but apparently decided today to press forward.

The decision to press suit was apparently motivated by the discovery of emails between Bennett and his partners in the Bennett's Professional Basketball Club organization which were ... ahem ... slightly duplicitous regarding Bennett's previously stated intentions to stay in Seattle, which were revealed by a report from the Seattle Times.

"Ward: Is there any way to move here for next season or are we doomed to have another lame duck season in Seattle?"

"Bennett: I am a man possessed! Will do everything we can. Thanks for hanging with me boys, the game is getting started!"

Apparently, Schultz's lawyers find that a little bit ... awkward. In the suit filed today, they stated that Bennett's public statement that the club had every intention of trying to remain in Seattle was "false from the moment it was made."

It would appear that Schultz is not willing to go down without a fight, though it may ultimately be in vain.

Considering the league just officially removed a team for a major city with a huge corporate presence and a 41-year history of incredible fan support, David Stern is awfully unapologetic. He's a hurt man, pained by the no-holds-barred bruising punishment from ... the people of Seattle?

Stern, quoted in The Oklahoman on occasion of the league's affirmative Sonics relocation vote:

"My own sort of experience in matters like this, reading the tea leaves and the rhetoric, is that [Seattle's hired lawyer] Sen. [Slade] Gorton is intent upon a scorched-earth policy, and that's been pretty much bought into," Stern said.

"I think that Sen. Gorton and the mayor are determined to exact whatever pound of flesh is possible, and they will, and then the team will leave at the end of whatever period of time the court says it is required to stay for, and that will be it, period."

The only "scorched earth" here is the land under Clay Bennett's tires as he tries to speed out of town. We've seen plenty of absurd rhetoric from the Stern/Bennett camp over the past year. But to insist -- after all that has happened the past two weeks -- that Slade Gorton and the mayor of Seattle are the villains here?

Despite all of the court cases, despite all of the pleading from the fans and despite the possibility of other ownership options stepping in to help keep the Supersonics in Seattle, a majority of National Basketball Association owners voted today to allow the team to relocate to Oklahoma City.

A majority of owners voted to approve the Sonics' move, according to Richard Peddie, president of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA's Toronto Raptors.

Peddie didn't give a vote total as he emerged from the closed-door session in New York.

This is a pretty aggressive move by the NBA owners, but entirely shocking. Allowing Clay Bennett to truck the Sonics out of Seattle gives them ridiculous precedent (of the non-legal variety right now) to demand new facilities and upgrades for other teams in various cities simply by threatening relocation.