Almost 16 years ago, Washington had one of the most loved and entertaining franchises in the NBA the Seattle Supersonics.
Not even a year later in 2008 the new owner of the team Clay Bennet decided to relocate the team to Oklahoma because the city of Seattle did not want to purchase a new stadium worth 500$ million for the team and he’d rather go to a city that would. This move was very puzzling because of how successful Seattle was as a franchise bringing in a championship and having more fans than lower marketed teams across the league like the Sacramento Kings, Portland Trailblazers, Milwaukee Bucks and plenty of other teams at the time. The decision that Clay Bennet made left fans devastated and begging for the return of their beloved team. After plenty of rumors in the last 10 years there is now an actual chance that we could see the return of the Supersonics pretty soon. The Commissioner of the NBA Adam Silver has talked about an expansion of the league coming soon that will introduce two new teams, and the top destinations for those teams are Las Vegas, Seattle, New Mexico, Montreal and Vancouver.
In early January this year Shaquille O’neal an NBA legend asked the Commissioner Adam Silver “With everything going so well, do you in the near future, expect more expansion teams? You hear Seattle, you hear Las Vegas, is that a possibility?” “It is a possibility,” Silver replied. Adam Silver also addressed reporters on July 5th at 2023 Summer League in Las Vegas and reported on a number of new possibilities most notably expansion. He confirmed that the league will begin exploring the idea once the current media rights deal is up in 2025.
Due to the success from the Seattle Seahawks and the Seattle Kraken, Adam Silver and other fans across the NBA have recognized how big of a fan base and market the city of Seattle has, this is a huge reason why the return of a team here is highly considered. Not only would this make fans here happier, but Seattle already has plenty of stadiums that could host a new team including Climate Pledge Arena, the Tacoma Dome and plenty others. On October 10th Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena hosted an NBA preseason game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Utah Jazz for the second time ever bringing a lot of success in viewership and publicity which would be another reason for the NBA to consider expanding.
Unfortunately, on a more negative side, especially for Seattle fans, Adam Silver lately has brought up international countries and places outside of the US being the most intriguing pick for an expansion team.
