The National Basketball Association extended the Sacramento Kings' relocation request deadline on Tuesday – after which Mayor Kevin Johnson said the only way the Kings will stay in this city is if a deal falls through in Anaheim.

The NBA Board of Governors is giving the team's owners until April 18 to file a request to move the team to another city after the current season ends, according to a statement issued by the NBA Tuesday morning.

"The deadline, which is typically March 1 prior to the season for which a team wants to relocate, has now been moved to April 18 to give Kings ownership the opportunity to discuss its options with the NBA Board of Governors at its meeting on April 14-15," NBA officials said in the statement.

The Kings will stay in Sacramento only if they have to, Johnson said in a press conference at City Hall shortly after hearing the news.

"It would be great if we would be competing with Anaheim. I don't think Sacramento has a whole lot of say right now," he said. "I am rooting against them."

The Maloofs, who are the team's majority owners, have stalled on setting up a meeting with Johnson and turning over requested financial documents to a development team studying how a new arena might be built in the current economy.

Johnson said he expects to meet with the Maloofs Wednesday or Thursday, but nothing has been scheduled. They originally said they'd meet with him Tuesday.

The mayor said he plans to let them know how seriously the city is working toward building an arena to replace the Kings' current home and what the city's expectations are, as well as ask what the city can do to improve its chances of keeping the Kings.

"We're going to reiterate how badly we would like to keep them here in Sacramento," he said. "I think there's a chance to reset the good-faith nature of this partnership."

The Maloofs have turned over some documents to the ICON-Taylor development team. However, they haven't provided any marketing studies or information about revenue streams from parking, ticket sales, concessions and the like, which are really needed for a thorough analysis, he said.

The Kings had planned to change the name of the team's stadium from Arco Arena to Power Balance Pavilion on Tuesday. Arco Arena will remain the name of the stadium until a decision is made about the Kings' move. The Maloofs will continue to own the facility if they repay a $70 million loan from the city, Johnson said.

Johnson said he had a "good-natured" conversation with Joe and Gavin Maloof at the Kings' game Monday night. They talked about how the sold-out stadium reminded them of the Kings' glory days over the last quarter century in Sacramento.

Kings fans approached Johnson at halftime to offer the mayor encouragement in the effort to keep the team. Johnson, in turn, encouraged fans to keep supporting the team.

Johnson recently told Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait that he hopes a deal with the Kings doesn't pan out. If that happens, Johnson said he'll turn to NBA Commissioner David Stern to help the city "solidify" its relationship with the Maloofs.

In the meantime, Johnson said Sacramento must now develop contingency plans in case the Kings leave. Three months ago, the mayor recruited ICON Venue Group, a prominent arena builder, to compete in the city's process to build an arena. Now the ICON-Taylor team is preparing two analyses – one with the Kings as tenants and one without them.

At the same time, the NBA is grappling with the issue of how small NBA markets like Sacramento can compete with bigger markets.

Johnson said it was "premature" to discuss whether he's talking to other NBA teams to see who might be interested in coming here. But he has been talking with people throughout the region about what can be done to have an NBA team in Sacramento – even if it's not the Kings.

"I'm not a mayor who'll just be sitting on his hands," Johnson said.