Oklahoma City Thunder, Seattle SuperSonics
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Reports have said that the Oklahoma City Thunder would cede the history back to the SuperSonics if the NBA expands to 32 teams.
Six years after NBA commissioner Adam Silver began the process of expanding by two franchises, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that league governors will meet to explore adding teams in Seattle and Las Vegas for the 2028-29 season.
The meeting is set to take place next week, and the NBA’s senior insider mentioned that proposals for the new teams “could land between $7 and $10 billion.”
A key question is what would happen to the Oklahoma City Thunder if Seattle were to regain an NBA franchise for the first time since the Seattle SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Tim Bontemps said that if a franchise were to return to Seattle, “the Thunder would cede the Seattle history back to the SuperSonics.”
The expansion of two new franchises to the NBA would require approval from 23 out of 30 team owners to move forward in the process. The insiders said it would be “shocking” if an expansion doesn’t take place.
Seattle to Reclaim History of SuperSonics if an NBA Team Returns
As complicated as it sounds, the action of a team reclaiming history has already taken place when the Charlotte Hornets reclaimed history from the New Orleans Pelicans when Charlotte regained the Hornets name back in 2014.
As of now, the Oklahoma City Thunder does not hang banners for the accolades of the Seattle SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008. It’s also worth noting that the Thunder’s media guide doesn’t recognize any Seattle statistics that took place during their time.
The reason behind the move from Seattle to Oklahoma City was a long-term dispute that kept then-owner of the SuperSonics, Howard Schultz, from financially supporting construction of a new arena or major renovations to KeyArena. This led to Schultz selling the franchise to an Oklahoma City group that’s led by Clay Bennett in 2006, according to Dan Treacy of The Sporting News.
KeyArena (now named Climate Pledge Arena) was renovated in 2021 and reopened as the home arena for the WNBA’s Seattle Storm and the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. This helped restart the idea of bringing back an NBA franchise to Seattle, which is the largest city in the United States without an NBA team.
Why is Las Vegas Being Considered as the Second Expansion Team?
With the Summer League taking place in Las Vegas and the Emirates NBA Cup (introduced in the 2023-24 season) championship round being hosted in the city, it’s just a matter of time before a professional men’s basketball team is introduced.
Just a decade ago, in 2016, Las Vegas introduced its first major professional sports franchise when the city was awarded the NHL’s Golden Knights. Other major leagues would take action soon after.
The WNBA’s Aces relocated from San Antonio in 2018, the NFL’s Raiders moved from Oakland in 2020, and the MLB’s Athletics are scheduled to complete a relocation to Las Vegas in 2028.
The NBA is the final piece to a new city in professional sports. With the anticipation of Las Vegas being one of the newest homes of a franchise in the National Basketball Association for the 2028-29 season.