The long-term prospects of professional basketball in New Orleans seem a bit more precarious after last week’s news.

The New Orleans Hornets recently signed an arena extension with the state of Louisiana that would have you believe the team will be there until 2014.

But take a look at the details of the agreement, which the New Orleans Times-Picayune has written about, and a different story is told.

The Hornets have a buyout clause that allows the team to opt out of the agreement after the 2008-09 season if the Hornets do not average a little over 14,700 in paid attendance during the rest of this season and throughout next season.

Currently, the Hornets are second-to last in NBA attendance at 12,341 per game. Even a contest against the Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers only drew 15,605 fans.

Here’s an editorial from the same paper telling folks in New Orleans to put up or shut up.

The Hornets’ situation in New Orleans will be closely watched by people in the Seattle area because if the Hornets can’t make it in New Orleans they will be on the move.

And with Sonics potentially moving to Oklahoma City, one wonders how the Hornets situation will affect what happens with the Sonics in Seattle.

National NBA writer John Hollinger characterizes the dilemma for New Orleans in this New York Sun article, and says New Orleans' misfortune could work in Seattle’s favor.

However, there is still time for people in New Orleans to rally around the Hornets, a playoff-caliber team that is 25-12 and has one of the best young players in the game in point guard Chris Paul. But with the bleak economic situation created by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, you can’t blame people in the New Orleans area for having other things besides supporting a pro basketball franchise on their minds.