The last time the NBA had a home in Seattle, 16-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant was in his rookie year. The Seattle SuperSonics drafted Durant at No. 2 overall in 2007. Just after Durant wormed his way into the hearts of Seattle fans, the Sonics relocated to Oklahoma City and became the Oklahoma City Thunder in July 2008.
Some Sonics fans have transferred their loyalty to the Thunder, a fortuitous choice. Oklahoma City is the defending NBA champion and employs Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is on the verge of becoming a back-to-back NBA MVP. But most Sonics fans just want the SuperSonics back home in Seattle.
On Monday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the NBA will hold a vote at next week’s board of governors meeting “to explore adding expansion teams exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle.” If the vote passes, those two franchises would begin play during the 2028-29 season.
Later in the day, Brian Windhorst gave Seattle fans even more hope.
“There has been some stops and starts in this, and there is definitely a process, as Shams is describing,” Windhorst said on ESPN’s NBA Today. “But for the first time, really, since 2008, I think if you’re a Seattle Sonics fan, you can truly start to believe that the Sonics are in the process of coming back.”
Windhorst continued, “There’s a lot of things to be ironed out, but I will tell you this: There are going to be multiple bidders offering lots of money for both of these markets, and I think because of the money, that will solve the other concerns. You could have concerns about talent. You could offer concerns about dilution. You could offer concerns about an expansion draft. You could offer concerns about who might have to move to the Eastern Conference. All of those will be interesting. The panacea for all of it is the amount of money we’re talking about here.”
Windhorst cited the recent sales of the Los Angeles Lakers ($10 billion valuation) and Boston Celtics ($6.1 billion valuation) as catalysts.
While Seattle would be getting an entirely new franchise, the framework is in place to restore the Sonics to their former glory.
“Sources said if a team was to return to Seattle, the Thunder would cede the Seattle history back to the SuperSonics — just as the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets reclaimed the Charlotte-era history of the New Orleans Pelicans when Charlotte regained the Hornets name in 2014,” ESPN’s Bobby Marks, Kevin Pelton, and Tim Bontempts wrote in September 2024.
The SuperSonics debuted in 1967-68 and played in Seattle through the 2007-08 season. In that time, the SuperSonics appeared in three NBA Finals and won one in 1979. Most recently, they lost to the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls in 1996. After relocating to OKC, the Thunder lost the NBA Finals in 2012 and did not appear again until they topped the Indiana Pacers in seven games last year.
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