The Oklahoma City Thunder celebrated their first NBA title with a parade through their downtown Tuesday morning, and that stings two time zones away here in Seattle.
Investors bought and relocated the Seattle SuperSonics to Oklahoma City in 2008.
KUOW’s Kim Malcolm spoke to Seattle-based Washington Post sports columnist Jerry Brewer about why that move still hurts, and when Sonics fans might get to move on.
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This interview has been edited for clarity.
Kim Malcolm: You wrote that losing the Sonics in 2008 actually deepened your connection to this city. How did it do that?
Jerry Brewer: Loss changes you. You really start to understand things. I came to Seattle in 2006 from Louisville, from my home state of Kentucky, because I wanted to get back to covering NBA basketball. I came as a columnist, and I wanted to do all the sports, but my specialty was NBA basketball. And I'll never forget accepting the job. Two days later, my sports editor calls and says, "I know basketball was a big reason you wanted to come. Well, guess what? They just sold the team to a group of Oklahoma City businessmen, and I'm not sure the team is going to be around that much longer." Going through that was something that, early in my career, I hadn't experienced before. Seeing how it just devastated a fan base was something that really stays in my heart to this day.
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The Thunder had the NBA’a best regular season record this year. They had the league MVP. Now, they have their first title. Can you bring yourself to say they are a good team?
Yes, I can bring myself to say that they're a good team. I would even bring myself to say that they're a very good team. And by the time they're done, they might even be a dynasty, which really scares me. They are the second-youngest team in modern history to win an NBA championship. The only team younger, slightly younger, was the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers. And when you think about all of the talent, and then all of the future draft picks and assets that they have to keep building a winner, even if they lose players in free agency, they're at least going to be a factor in the championship hunt for the next half decade. I wouldn't be surprised if they win at least one more title, sadly.
I'm just thinking about how Sonics fans are going to keep feeling that for the next year, possibly longer you're saying. What are the chances right now that Seattle, after all these years, will land an NBA team here?
Cautiously optimistic, I would say. The NBA is considering expansion, and there's an expectation that if they do decide to expand, they would expand by two teams, to a 32-team league. It's considered that Seattle would be number one on that list of possible expansion cities. Las Vegas would be number two. But the problem now is that the NBA is just a giant business, and it takes a historic investment to get into the league.
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Here's what people need to watch out for in terms of timeline. This summer, when the NBA Board of Governors meet, they will talk about expansion. I think there's going to be a lot of negotiating and a lot of posturing about what it takes to get to the NBA, what it takes to get back into the NBA. So, I think most fans would hope that there would be some kind of clarity or commitment by the end of summer, or by the end of this year. I think it could probably take up until right around this time next year before we have greater clarity on whether this is going to happen or not, and that's why I think a three-year timeline is most realistic.
Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.
Kim's Full Conversation With Jerry Brewer