DALLAS -- The Sacramento Kings are going nowhere.

Ownership representatives from the league's 30 teams met Wednesday for nearly four hours and ultimately voted to reject the Kings' proposed move to Seattle, backing last month's unanimous recommendation from a relocation committee to keep the team in Sacramento. NBA commissioner David Stern confirmed the vote in Sacramento's favor was 22-8.

Acknowledging the toll this saga has taken on both cities, with the Kings' future in Sacramento uncertain for the past 2½ years and Seattle's wait to return to the world of professional basketball forced now to continue indefinitely, Stern said: "I would say it's a victory for Sacramento, not a victory for the NBA."

Stern went on to say at a news conference afterward that the Maloof family that owns the Kings has "the right to retain ownership" of the team under league bylaws. Stern, though, expressed confidence that a sale to the consortium assembled by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson and headed by Silicon Valley billionaire Vivek Ranadive eventually will be completed.

"It is my expectation that we'll be able to make a deal with the Maloofs and the Ranadive group to transfer title of the team in Sacramento," Stern said. "It's not a certainty, but we're going to work [toward] that result."

Stern added that Wednesday's vote, while technically addressing only the proposed relocation of the Kings to Seattle, has "effectively" canceled the Maloofs' sale agreement with the Seattle group headlined by lead investor Chris Hansen. Stern said league officials immediately would begin talks with the Maloofs over the next "24 to 48 hours" aimed at facilitating a sale to the Ranadive-led bidders.

"And now we hope that they will, having really forcefully projected support for the Seattle bid until the end ... now we think that because the Maloofs have overall been very good for Sacramento and the Kings and the NBA that they will be motivated to do something fast, so that the franchise can get cracking," Stern said.

George Maloof, in attendance in Dallas with brothers Joe and Gavin, made no such promises. Although he disputed the widely held belief that his family does not want to sell to Ranadive's group, George Maloof added that he'd have to speak with other family members -- as well as Hansen -- before deciding what steps to take next.

"We'll see what happens," Maloof said. "It's not over."

Two sources close to the process indicated Wednesday that it has been conveyed to the Maloofs that approval from fellow owners is unlikely at this point if they try to sell to a group other than Ranadive's, given the considerable capital and commitment that the prospective ownership team Johnson pulled together has poured into its offer to match the considerable bid from Hansen's side.

David Stern said Wednesday's vote "effectively" canceled the Maloofs' sale agreement with the Seattle group headlined by lead investor Chris Hansen. Glenn James/NBAE/Getty Images

Maloof seemed to acknowledge that before leaving the site of the meeting just outside downtown Dallas, telling reporters: "I can pick who I sell to, but it's up to the owners" to approve any deal.

Maloof, though, did add that there's been "no pressure" from the league thus far and said that the past four months -- since it emerged in January that Hansen's group had reached an agreement on a deal to buy the Kings valued at $525 million -- have "been a fair process."

Just last week, in a last-ditch bid to sway owners to dismiss the recommendations from the league-appointed relocation committee, Hansen increased the value of his offer for 65 percent of the Kings from $358 million to a record $409 million, pushing the overall valuation of the proposed transaction to $625 million. The previous record for an NBA franchise sale, by comparison, is the $450 million paid by a Joe Lacob-led consortium in 2010 to purchase the Golden State Warriors.

To further sweeten the pot, Hansen also offered each team a relocation fee payout of more than $4 million -- for a total of $115 million -- in hopes of securing the 16 votes Seattle needed for the original sale agreement to be ratified.

In a statement issued Wednesday night, Hansen said: "While we are obviously extremely disappointed with today's relocation vote and truly believe we put forth both a significantly better offer and arena plan, we do thank the league and the owners for their time and consideration and look forward to hearing back on our agreement to join the Maloofs as limited partners in the Kings. But most of all I would like to thank everyone in Seattle who has been a part of our effort and supported our cause. Words simply can't express how much your support has meant to me personally and to our city. I truly believe we did everything possible to put our best foot forward in this process and you all should be proud and hold your heads high today. Our day will come ... and when it does it will just be that much sweeter for the struggle. I love you, Seattle!"