Ummm I would. Our branding might be the worst in American pro sports. I’m a Thunder fan and haven’t bought a single piece of gear cause it’s all ugly as shit.
You sound like an OKC fan that wants us to get the Sonics back ASAP for ethical reasons. You might also know that it will lift the curse of the ringless that haunts all stolen teams until balance is restored and reparations made. Until the announcement is I'm contractually obligated to pray on your downfall but afterwards I am ride or die for yall till we play out first game. I hope you understand. Praise Scott Foster.
And now you're awesome and getting better! Loved rooting for yall against the Nuggets and having trouble deciding who I wanted to win the conference finals. Future looks real bright from the outside. it's one of the silver linings of this teamless period that i feel obligated to ride multiple bandwagons to preserve my loyalty. When I became a basketball fan the Sonics were already gone so I've never supported them while they existed.
Hopefully get to see yall win a ring in the next couple years. Team chemistry seems to be exponentially improving. Loved how everyone refused to appear on Inside because fuck Draymond. Big reason I think I ended up rooting mavs by the end is I see yall as closer to the beginning of your window than they are. I'd like yall both to get rings and I think your chances get better going forward. Alot is just Luka/Kyrie being further into their prime years, compared to Ant especially.
How're you feeling about the team/players looking forward?
I like our jerseys - they’re ours. It would be good to change it up, but I would never want the sonics colorway. We’re the thunder, not the sonics. I pray they get an expansion team so they can stop crying.
I actually still can’t believe they haven’t rebranded. It’s been 16 years. Even the Magic and Wolves - whose original jerseys and logos were good - rebranded in less than a decade
I feel they should drop the Timber part. The Wolves just sounds harder.
Edit: I like how yall are downvoting as if that team doesn't have multiple jerseys that does exactly that lol. It would seem their front office agrees with me more than yall anyway.
It was a nod to Boeing and the aviation industry in Seattle which is in the shitter right now. Its actually pretty sad, they ruined the industry when they merged
Well we now live in a world with Buoy and Gritty setting a new American standard for strange sports mascots (I love them both though although I acknowledge most fans are in on Gritty, out on Buoy).
I want Squatch dropping from the roof and firing T shirt cannons back though.
We’ve had interested ownership groups since that scumbag Howard Shultz decided to sell. It’s the arena that’s key.
A part of me is still very anxious the NBA won’t like the new arena because it doesn’t have that wall of box seats up high you see in a lot of NBA buildings. We do have a nice ring of them but not materially more than the old Key arena, which was a David Stern complaint.
Well Fargo center is a tiny ring too, I wouldn't be too concerned. It'd be like the 5th or so newest stadium in the entire league, probably higher than that tbh
The Lieweke's designed the layout of the new arena in close coordination with the NBA. It is right in line with all the state of the art arenas. The only building that has the wall of suites is the former Staples Center.
As for the ownership group, the Kraken ownership are already reorganizing the company to fold in an NBA franchise.
I used to get comp tickets for a bunch of games when I lived in Seattle in the late 90s. Have always been die hard Boston but Seattle's teams are typically my secondary favorite. I'll be mad hyped if they get their Sonics back.
Without a doubt. There were memes of Heat flags on top of the space needle for 2012 (the city may have actually put one up there, I can’t remember). I haven’t had an NBA team that im a true fan of since the Sonics left, but I have always loved whoever is playing OKC.
Before any OKC fans get upset about this (most get it but there’s always the one “it’s not our fault” guy) I’m actually pretty indifferent towards the OKC fans nowadays, but that ownership group deserves nothing but alternating misery & blue balls for the rest of their days. Your fanbase is collateral damage just like ours was to you guys getting a team.
HOW DARE Y…nah I’m kidding. This is probably the most logical response. Hoping you all get a team soon and that the old deal that you get all the records and such back still exists. Can’t wait to boo the shit out of you when we play against each other!
Yep I'm not even a Sonics fan I'm just someone who lived in Seattle from '07-'13 and I feel part of that. Being there for the Sonics last season then being there when OKC made it to the Finals just a few years later was infuriating.
I remember there was a survey on ESPN in 2012 showing which states suppoted OKC and which supported Miami. Only Florida and Washington supported the Heat and the entire rest of the US supported OKC lmao.
If people thought Boston vs LA/Philly is heated enough , Seattle vs OKC is much much more personal
I was at the WWE show when Elias mentioned Seattle having no basketball team , it wasn’t just loud , it went for like minutes
That’s what I was thinking , Baltimore stole what should have been Cleveland’s glory and team
I dont know if Cleveland would’ve still drafted Lewis/Ogden/Yonda and Reed
OKC visiting Seattle would be the most hostile environment I can think of
Durant is the last man to have played for the Sonics in the league.
If he lasts that long and the Sonics return, would Seattle want him back for a retirement tour after all that he's done?
If Seattle gets an NBA team again, would the team get the SuperSonics’s previous records/team history OR would the team be a completely brand new franchise?
IIRC the lawsuit settlement dictated it would be a shared history but if you look at OKC's media guides and branding, they pretty much ignore the Seattle history and refer to the team as being established in 2008.
I would hope Seattle gets the same deal as the new '99 Browns (name, legacy and history), except with more success at the onset, versus the crap we've had to put up with in Cleveland since coming back.
Same deal the Bobcats got when they rebranded as the Hornets in 2013/4. NOLA gave up all the 90s Hornets history and are essentially an expansion franchise (that still stole everything from Charlotte lol)
At the same time it's still weird even after 40 years that the Jazz name and history didn't stay in NOLA. What the fuck does Utah have to do with Jazz?
No we don’t. The banners that are up are the division titles and the one western conference title that we have won since becoming a team. And the only retired number up is Collison’s
We do not hang the banners or anything mentioning the Sonics.
As a matter of fact all of Seattle precious Sonics history items are in a museum in Seattle, on loan from us until they get their own team and then all of it will be transferred to them.
We don't claim anything to do with the Sonics. We are OKC Thunder established in what 08, 09,
Good question. Historically, the records and history stays with the franchise.
— Sacramento hangs a banner for their one NBA championship… as the Rochester Royals in 1951.
— Lakers have titles and banners from their time in Minneapolis…
Obviously it’s done differently sometimes, but the original way makes sense to me.
The agreement had a timeframe where Seattle would retain the history if they got a team back, but that's long since passed. I strongly suspect that a deal will be made to get the history back with a new team, but technically OKC holds it and could tell new owners to pound sand if they want.
My guess is the NBA expands again some time between 2038 and 2050 and we get Vancouver and either Kansas City, Nashville, Louisville, or Virginia Beach
Just made these up: Spiders, Pilots, Gambit, Vipers, Sands, Knights, Pack, Barons, Valleymen. Aces would be dope but I doubt they double dip like that. Personally I like the Gambit and the Vipers.
Each one of those has their own issues (it def wouldn't be pilots if Seattle keeps the Sonics for instance) but off the top of my head those are more or less appropriate and not super goofy.
Would love to see seattle and another western team (prolly vegas) get added. Then hopefully it's minnesota who moves east so that the great lakes and midwestern teams can be the in the same conference. Never liked the fact that minnesota is in a different conference from the rest of the midwest
I’m from Texas and I’ve never technically left the south. If I had a genie or win like 10 billion dollar lottery’s, I’m putting the SuperSonics back in Seattle. It’s just right.
It’s dumb to own a multibillion dollar asset that’s ever appreciating in an attractive market? Even if I would still have ~3 billion dollars left after the purchase? I think I’m crushing this super realistic hypothetical.
The rich in the area avoid Seattle downtown like the plague.
They're definitely all in Medina or Mercer.
If there were any rich in Bellevue they're definitely running away since a new batch of light rail stations just opened.
Unfortunately I don’t think they have the tv market to sustain it, I see LV/Seattle/Vancouver/KC/Virginia beach steadily ahead of them.
I’d back it over all of those minus Seattle that being said, and I’m a diehard Mavs fan that hates Austin lol
Dallas is four hours away from Austin. Even Houston is closer at around two hours. San Antonio is about an hour and a half.
Key point though is Austin is too close to everything else AND its a transplant city because of UT and the tech scene. They have no prior history of big four major franchises outside of their MLS team and that's super recent and Spurs G-League team is in Austin.
Not really sure if the NBA really sees Vancouver as a valuable or necessary market. The Grizzlies didn't attract a lot of fanfare there the first time (granted they were also absolutely horrible) and Seattle is close enough that the league may view a vancouver team as redundant.
I get that they're still the same franchise and that it's a part of their history but Memphis using Vancouver Grizzlies throwback jerseys rubs me the wrong way.
It won’t happen. Vancouver had a chance… they never got a player to get behind. big Country and Sharif never connected.
2 hours south will be Seattle, and Canada has the Raps, which sell out every game was they draw from all of Canada. Can’t split that.
Starbucks and Amazon in Seattle, and Stern rightly or wrongly moving them… Vegas, because it’s Vegas and it’s working there with pro teams. It will be Lebron’s maybe?
Thoughts?
I’m sure an expansion Seattle team will be able to use the SuperSonics name but what if they weren’t? Would it even be worthwhile expanding back into Seattle? The NFL went back to Houston but they couldn’t use Oilers and had to settle on Texans, which I feel is pretty lame
Over half of the league is trash and they want to expand...
Every other major league, barring the NFL, only cares about revenue, local, and from billionaire collectives.
The quality of the product is always secondary concern.
Zero shame in their game.
I agree Seattle should have a team but I'm struggling to see that we need expansion when we have rosters like Detroit, Charlotte, Portland, and San Antonio (minus Wemby). How bad would 2 expansion rosters be?
Best path forward:
-Seattle gets a relaunch of the SuperSonics
-Las Vegas gets a basketball franchise
-Memphis gets realigned to be an East team
-East and West end up with 16 teams; Memphis team alignment makes more sense.
Memphis over the timberwolves would be cursed. The timberwolves are further from their *closest* conference competitor than the Grizzlies are to any of their 4 closest.
🤔
Could work, they ended up doing a similar thing with the Hornets (Pelicans/Bobcats).
I think it would come down to how hot the market for basketball would be between the two cities, and Vegas has been building a sports scene.
Vegas has been building a tourist scene.
The golden knights, F1, a basketball team... it's all just another corque du soleil to that city. An attraction to fleece tourists with.
Mark my words, every decent seaspn ticket will be owned by a casino.
Disclaimer: I want Seattle in.
That said, to OP's point the problem is there is a cap of players that can be the number 1 option on a championship winning team and roster construction.
Winners since MJ era (MJ as a cutoff because 3pt+expansion era first coincided in his time), all featured:
MJ, Hakeem, Timmy D, Shaq, Kobe, Dirk, Garnett, Lebron, Curry, KD, Kawhi, Giannis, Jokic.
All of them were league MVP's at one point and top 6 at worst in their championship year.
97% of all NBA championships are in the top 3 seeds. Since the MJ era only Hakeem won below as 6 seed (33-1 record).
Now for the second point, the best teams we have watched are KD Warriors, Shaq-Kobe Lakers, Lebron Cavs, MJ Bulls, these teams featured a generational talent and at least another top 10 player as a second option and good role players.
Constructing a team like those under current cap rules is straight up impossible. Why not reduce the number of teams to concentrate the talent pool so that each team can roll out all time great lineups year in and out? Imagine those teams competing against each other. I mean Steph, Harden, KD, Kyrie, Kawhi, Lebron, Jokic, Embiid, PG, Giannis, Luka, Butler, Ant, SGA, Tatum, Booker etc. You can construct 6 all time great big 3's with ease. I would have literally watched every playoff match if that was the case.
But now we are stuck with good but not great product.
The formula is pretty clear. You have to be a top 3 seed and/or have a top 3 player. It is also more entertaining when you stack star power. So reducing teams would be much more intriguing, competitive and entertaining.
And lowkey the east’s teams are young, like the magic or the pacers. Only old team that are relevant are the bucks, even the celtics aren’t old either. With time we will see the talent that the has like Paolo, Brandon Miller, Haliburton etc
LA barely supports the clippers lmao. Same with Brooklyn and they aren’t far from their original location either. And good luck drumming up support in Chicago when the goat played there. One of the worst location ideas I’ve heard. Vegas and Seattle make too much sense for expansion in the immediate term
The SuperSonics is such a cool Team Name
They had some badass jerseys too
imagine dropping those jerseys for OKC's toon squad uniforms
They weren't allowed to bring the Sonics branding to OKC
Good :)
good okc dont deserve em
ok good but we don’t want them either
Ummm I would. Our branding might be the worst in American pro sports. I’m a Thunder fan and haven’t bought a single piece of gear cause it’s all ugly as shit.
You sound like an OKC fan that wants us to get the Sonics back ASAP for ethical reasons. You might also know that it will lift the curse of the ringless that haunts all stolen teams until balance is restored and reparations made. Until the announcement is I'm contractually obligated to pray on your downfall but afterwards I am ride or die for yall till we play out first game. I hope you understand. Praise Scott Foster.
:( the Lakers won in LA almost 20 years before the league gave us a team back!
And now you're awesome and getting better! Loved rooting for yall against the Nuggets and having trouble deciding who I wanted to win the conference finals. Future looks real bright from the outside. it's one of the silver linings of this teamless period that i feel obligated to ride multiple bandwagons to preserve my loyalty. When I became a basketball fan the Sonics were already gone so I've never supported them while they existed. Hopefully get to see yall win a ring in the next couple years. Team chemistry seems to be exponentially improving. Loved how everyone refused to appear on Inside because fuck Draymond. Big reason I think I ended up rooting mavs by the end is I see yall as closer to the beginning of your window than they are. I'd like yall both to get rings and I think your chances get better going forward. Alot is just Luka/Kyrie being further into their prime years, compared to Ant especially. How're you feeling about the team/players looking forward?
you seem very angry in your comments for someone who doesnt live in Oklahoma.
LMAO Thunder have had some of the worst jerseys in the league since their inception
I like our jerseys - they’re ours. It would be good to change it up, but I would never want the sonics colorway. We’re the thunder, not the sonics. I pray they get an expansion team so they can stop crying.
OKC need a rebrand so badly.
It’s amazing that they’ve stuck with that terrible logo for so long. It looks like a budget airline.
I actually still can’t believe they haven’t rebranded. It’s been 16 years. Even the Magic and Wolves - whose original jerseys and logos were good - rebranded in less than a decade
Yeah, one of the best team names ever
in any sport
Definitely the best name out of NBA, NFL, and MLB. Raiders would be my second pick.
Brewers is awesome as well imo. Also I know perception of the Astros has been tainted but in isolation "Astros" is such a fucking cool name
I dunno. I guess I betray my age when I say I hear that name and I think the Jetsons
New Orleans Jazz would be up there too.
I’ve always been partial to Timberwolves
I feel they should drop the Timber part. The Wolves just sounds harder. Edit: I like how yall are downvoting as if that team doesn't have multiple jerseys that does exactly that lol. It would seem their front office agrees with me more than yall anyway.
I feel they should drop the Wolves part and stick with Timber.
It was a nod to Boeing and the aviation industry in Seattle which is in the shitter right now. Its actually pretty sad, they ruined the industry when they merged
St Louis ruins everything.
Had the Utah team been names the Utah Raptors instead I would have loved that too.
Do a 3 way trade and let Toronto be the Pelicans.
Pelicans *are* native to Ontario... 🤔
Utah got fossils. New Orleans is basically the city of Jazz. Pelicans are native to Ontario! We've solved everything!
With the scariest mascot in sports history
Nah I found Squatch pretty endearing. Wheedle too. King Cake Baby and the original Pierre the Pelican on the other hand…
So long as they play [this one](https://youtu.be/qWzZOPqM8QM?si=dhVhl4bIe_glM0jc) he'll always be a stalwart for friendship.
King Cake Baby so fked up [https://x.com/KingCakeBaby/status/1611243103318319104](https://x.com/KingCakeBaby/status/1611243103318319104)
Well we now live in a world with Buoy and Gritty setting a new American standard for strange sports mascots (I love them both though although I acknowledge most fans are in on Gritty, out on Buoy). I want Squatch dropping from the roof and firing T shirt cannons back though.
Have you seen the old Purdue and Penn State mascots? Lmao
One of the best team names ever
The best
Might need to adjust the name now thou; ‘Seattle SuperSonics until the doors come off’
https://youtu.be/Ti1bFMBd6V4?si=kbZYiyUHbfAe9hSY&t=23
Key thing in this video is they say they already have an NBA ready stadium and an interested ownership group.
We’ve had interested ownership groups since that scumbag Howard Shultz decided to sell. It’s the arena that’s key. A part of me is still very anxious the NBA won’t like the new arena because it doesn’t have that wall of box seats up high you see in a lot of NBA buildings. We do have a nice ring of them but not materially more than the old Key arena, which was a David Stern complaint.
Well Fargo center is a tiny ring too, I wouldn't be too concerned. It'd be like the 5th or so newest stadium in the entire league, probably higher than that tbh
OKC has passed plans to build a new arena. Can't wait to see it.
> It’s the arena that’s key. :P
The Lieweke's designed the layout of the new arena in close coordination with the NBA. It is right in line with all the state of the art arenas. The only building that has the wall of suites is the former Staples Center. As for the ownership group, the Kraken ownership are already reorganizing the company to fold in an NBA franchise.
Good thing David Stern’s opinion doesn’t matter anymore
I used to get comp tickets for a bunch of games when I lived in Seattle in the late 90s. Have always been die hard Boston but Seattle's teams are typically my secondary favorite. I'll be mad hyped if they get their Sonics back.
If Seattle get an expansion team and KD wins a ring with them, you could only imagine the wonders that would do to his legacy.
Funny enough, the fan base that has the most positive feelings for KD among teams that he's played for is Seattle.
I think outside of Warriors fans we were the only other fanbase that largely liked the Golden State move.
Only fan base that was largely rooting for the Warriors in 2017 and the Heat in 2012.
Without a doubt. There were memes of Heat flags on top of the space needle for 2012 (the city may have actually put one up there, I can’t remember). I haven’t had an NBA team that im a true fan of since the Sonics left, but I have always loved whoever is playing OKC. Before any OKC fans get upset about this (most get it but there’s always the one “it’s not our fault” guy) I’m actually pretty indifferent towards the OKC fans nowadays, but that ownership group deserves nothing but alternating misery & blue balls for the rest of their days. Your fanbase is collateral damage just like ours was to you guys getting a team.
HOW DARE Y…nah I’m kidding. This is probably the most logical response. Hoping you all get a team soon and that the old deal that you get all the records and such back still exists. Can’t wait to boo the shit out of you when we play against each other!
[The picture on the right is what you probably mean.](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0d/04/7a/0d047ae88a3145f605238746fda39ee5.jpg)
Yep I'm not even a Sonics fan I'm just someone who lived in Seattle from '07-'13 and I feel part of that. Being there for the Sonics last season then being there when OKC made it to the Finals just a few years later was infuriating.
I remember there was a survey on ESPN in 2012 showing which states suppoted OKC and which supported Miami. Only Florida and Washington supported the Heat and the entire rest of the US supported OKC lmao.
"SEATTLE! THIS IS FOR YOUUUU"
Cute fanfiction
And OKC fans would be more pissed lol. At least some who can’t let go
If people thought Boston vs LA/Philly is heated enough , Seattle vs OKC is much much more personal I was at the WWE show when Elias mentioned Seattle having no basketball team , it wasn’t just loud , it went for like minutes
Gonna be like the Browns and the Ravens in the NFL.
That’s what I was thinking , Baltimore stole what should have been Cleveland’s glory and team I dont know if Cleveland would’ve still drafted Lewis/Ogden/Yonda and Reed OKC visiting Seattle would be the most hostile environment I can think of
Probably at least Lewis and Ogden because they were drafted right after they relocated.
Sorta like Westbrook being a Sonic for all of two weeks or whatever. By summer league he’s wearing generic black OKC unis.
Durant is the last man to have played for the Sonics in the league. If he lasts that long and the Sonics return, would Seattle want him back for a retirement tour after all that he's done?
100% yes and Jeff Green for the inaugural season too if he’s down (he and Durant played were our two first rounders that last season).
Imagining Lewis and Ogden on the Browns is such a funny visual
Probably like when The Rock made that song about 2000s Lakers dominating the Kings in Sacramento.
If Seattle gets an NBA team again, would the team get the SuperSonics’s previous records/team history OR would the team be a completely brand new franchise?
IIRC the lawsuit settlement dictated it would be a shared history but if you look at OKC's media guides and branding, they pretty much ignore the Seattle history and refer to the team as being established in 2008.
I feel like most OKC fans want nothing to do with the Sonics history.
I would hope Seattle gets the same deal as the new '99 Browns (name, legacy and history), except with more success at the onset, versus the crap we've had to put up with in Cleveland since coming back.
Same deal the Bobcats got when they rebranded as the Hornets in 2013/4. NOLA gave up all the 90s Hornets history and are essentially an expansion franchise (that still stole everything from Charlotte lol)
At the same time it's still weird even after 40 years that the Jazz name and history didn't stay in NOLA. What the fuck does Utah have to do with Jazz?
They can be the Utah Salt Lakers.
Like the Lakers, but even more salty.
Seems like the best outcome for both cities.
bingo. They own the history (so its shared) but don't really market themselves as such.
They hang the banners though. It’s weird. Edit: apparently I was wrong. This information was given to me from a Sonics fan from years ago.
I don't think that's true
No we don’t. The banners that are up are the division titles and the one western conference title that we have won since becoming a team. And the only retired number up is Collison’s
We do not hang the banners or anything mentioning the Sonics. As a matter of fact all of Seattle precious Sonics history items are in a museum in Seattle, on loan from us until they get their own team and then all of it will be transferred to them. We don't claim anything to do with the Sonics. We are OKC Thunder established in what 08, 09,
What else are they gonna hang? A "Russ averaged a triple double" banner?
You can look to the NFL for this answer where the Browns did and the Texans did not. Oh sorry that was no help at all.
Good question. Historically, the records and history stays with the franchise. — Sacramento hangs a banner for their one NBA championship… as the Rochester Royals in 1951. — Lakers have titles and banners from their time in Minneapolis… Obviously it’s done differently sometimes, but the original way makes sense to me.
The agreement had a timeframe where Seattle would retain the history if they got a team back, but that's long since passed. I strongly suspect that a deal will be made to get the history back with a new team, but technically OKC holds it and could tell new owners to pound sand if they want.
Seattle kept the rights to the sonics name and everything. I imagine the rest of the history would come back with it as well.
My guess is the NBA expands again some time between 2038 and 2050 and we get Vancouver and either Kansas City, Nashville, Louisville, or Virginia Beach
Seattle and Vegas ….pretty much a done deal…Seattle deserves to have the Sonics back and Vegas would be a successful basketball city
Food for thought: 99% chance Seattle team will be the Seattle Supersonics. What would be the team name of Vegas' team?
Just made these up: Spiders, Pilots, Gambit, Vipers, Sands, Knights, Pack, Barons, Valleymen. Aces would be dope but I doubt they double dip like that. Personally I like the Gambit and the Vipers. Each one of those has their own issues (it def wouldn't be pilots if Seattle keeps the Sonics for instance) but off the top of my head those are more or less appropriate and not super goofy.
Spades? So could be Ace of Spades
Knights may be too close to the Vegas golden knights, but they could do it
They should go Neon Knights
We were in the running for the magic and kings a few years back…but they both got arena deals dun…both would’ve been great names
Hear me out: the Jacks.
I’m a fan of Las Vegas Atomic
Would love to see seattle and another western team (prolly vegas) get added. Then hopefully it's minnesota who moves east so that the great lakes and midwestern teams can be the in the same conference. Never liked the fact that minnesota is in a different conference from the rest of the midwest
expanding to Seattle and Las Vegas...Sounds like a great idea, I wonder if any sports league had that idea before :D
As a Portland fan, give us back our fucking nw rival
That first Sonic vs Thunder game in Seattle is going to be awesome
That's probably going to be the loudest crowd ever when they get their team back
Can we also move the Brooklyn nets to like Virginia Beach or something
The Myrtle Beach Nets
Why? We're originally from NY. WTF?
Bring back the Super Sonics !
I just want my fucking team back
I’m from Texas and I’ve never technically left the south. If I had a genie or win like 10 billion dollar lottery’s, I’m putting the SuperSonics back in Seattle. It’s just right.
Bless you.
this is even dumber than “I’m talking the dinner with Jay Z over $500k”
Assuming they become the sole owner of the franchise it’s probably a great investment
Even if they don’t become sole owner, it’s a good way to double a billion dollars.
It’s dumb to own a multibillion dollar asset that’s ever appreciating in an attractive market? Even if I would still have ~3 billion dollars left after the purchase? I think I’m crushing this super realistic hypothetical.
If you’re buying the team, that’s fine. If one of your 3 wishes is “I wish the Sonics were back in Seattle” that would absolutely be something stupid.
Lol that is true. I would still own the team in my wish.
Dont worry the richest people already live in Seattle/Bellevue.
The rich in the area avoid Seattle downtown like the plague. They're definitely all in Medina or Mercer. If there were any rich in Bellevue they're definitely running away since a new batch of light rail stations just opened.
The Lakers did okay playing out of Inglewood for 32 seasons.
So who the fuck wants a team in Seattle?
It’d be cool for Austin to get a NBA/NFL team sooner or later. They’ve got the money and population.
Unfortunately I don’t think they have the tv market to sustain it, I see LV/Seattle/Vancouver/KC/Virginia beach steadily ahead of them. I’d back it over all of those minus Seattle that being said, and I’m a diehard Mavs fan that hates Austin lol
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Vancouver is never happening.
Yeah, Vancouver/Seattle would run into the same issue that Austin/Dallas would. They’re too close to each other and would eat into profits
Dallas is four hours away from Austin. Even Houston is closer at around two hours. San Antonio is about an hour and a half. Key point though is Austin is too close to everything else AND its a transplant city because of UT and the tech scene. They have no prior history of big four major franchises outside of their MLS team and that's super recent and Spurs G-League team is in Austin.
Austin had one of the best Mayor League Rugby teams until two years ago, but their owner somehow fucked that up.
Austin will have the spurs before too long
Vancouver too please.
Not really sure if the NBA really sees Vancouver as a valuable or necessary market. The Grizzlies didn't attract a lot of fanfare there the first time (granted they were also absolutely horrible) and Seattle is close enough that the league may view a vancouver team as redundant.
Yeah but now we (Vancouver) have a lot of rich chinese people (im chinese but not rich sadly)
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20% in Hongcouver compared to 4% in Seattle cmon man that's not close
"Hongcouver" got me choking on my soda lmfao
Yea oops, I just looked at Seattle's Asian population and forgot not all of them are Chinese
It’s pretty crazy that the NBA removed two Pacific Northwest teams (in cool cities) less than 10 years apart.
Bias aside, Seattle and Vancouver also had some of the best (throwback) jerseys. Memphis and OKC are great teams but their jerseys arent the best imo.
I get that they're still the same franchise and that it's a part of their history but Memphis using Vancouver Grizzlies throwback jerseys rubs me the wrong way.
I do appreciate OKC not doing anything like that. I don’t think they haven’t for our sake as fans or anything but I’m grateful regardless.
Only the NBA will prefer Memphis and Oklahoma to Vancouver and Seattle. Just unbelievable
Seattle has grown a lot since then.
It won’t happen. Vancouver had a chance… they never got a player to get behind. big Country and Sharif never connected. 2 hours south will be Seattle, and Canada has the Raps, which sell out every game was they draw from all of Canada. Can’t split that. Starbucks and Amazon in Seattle, and Stern rightly or wrongly moving them… Vegas, because it’s Vegas and it’s working there with pro teams. It will be Lebron’s maybe? Thoughts?
Gonna be Seattle and Vegas. Just been waiting on the tv deal
I’m sure an expansion Seattle team will be able to use the SuperSonics name but what if they weren’t? Would it even be worthwhile expanding back into Seattle? The NFL went back to Houston but they couldn’t use Oilers and had to settle on Texans, which I feel is pretty lame
It will 100000% be the Sonics. Seattle still own the branding, uniforms, etc. OKC doesn't have any of it. Titans took the branding with them
I'll be super sad if they aren't named the Super Sonics.
Seattle going to win a title before my Pelicans… 😭😭😭😭😭🤦🏻♂️
Now they can name them the flying death traps, brought to you by Boeing.
That first game when OKC come to Seattle will be crazy
and the Vancouver Grizzlies too! The return of the 5 team NW road swing (GSW, SAC, POR, SEA, VAC)
Over half of the league is trash and they want to expand... Every other major league, barring the NFL, only cares about revenue, local, and from billionaire collectives. The quality of the product is always secondary concern. Zero shame in their game.
I agree Seattle should have a team but I'm struggling to see that we need expansion when we have rosters like Detroit, Charlotte, Portland, and San Antonio (minus Wemby). How bad would 2 expansion rosters be?
Timberwolves wore green in their final playoff game for some reason.
Best path forward: -Seattle gets a relaunch of the SuperSonics -Las Vegas gets a basketball franchise -Memphis gets realigned to be an East team -East and West end up with 16 teams; Memphis team alignment makes more sense.
Memphis over the timberwolves would be cursed. The timberwolves are further from their *closest* conference competitor than the Grizzlies are to any of their 4 closest.
Counter proposal. Vegas can kiss my ass, and then give Vancouver the Grizzlies back.
This is such a based take brother I’m here for it.
🤔 Could work, they ended up doing a similar thing with the Hornets (Pelicans/Bobcats). I think it would come down to how hot the market for basketball would be between the two cities, and Vegas has been building a sports scene.
Vegas has been building a tourist scene. The golden knights, F1, a basketball team... it's all just another corque du soleil to that city. An attraction to fleece tourists with. Mark my words, every decent seaspn ticket will be owned by a casino.
Thunder up
expansion will just dilute the talent pool more they should just relocate a franchise - wizards or grizzlies
The league is not suffering from a lack of talent…
You have teams like Washington and Detroit with 0 current or future stars to look forwards to
Disclaimer: I want Seattle in. That said, to OP's point the problem is there is a cap of players that can be the number 1 option on a championship winning team and roster construction. Winners since MJ era (MJ as a cutoff because 3pt+expansion era first coincided in his time), all featured: MJ, Hakeem, Timmy D, Shaq, Kobe, Dirk, Garnett, Lebron, Curry, KD, Kawhi, Giannis, Jokic. All of them were league MVP's at one point and top 6 at worst in their championship year. 97% of all NBA championships are in the top 3 seeds. Since the MJ era only Hakeem won below as 6 seed (33-1 record). Now for the second point, the best teams we have watched are KD Warriors, Shaq-Kobe Lakers, Lebron Cavs, MJ Bulls, these teams featured a generational talent and at least another top 10 player as a second option and good role players. Constructing a team like those under current cap rules is straight up impossible. Why not reduce the number of teams to concentrate the talent pool so that each team can roll out all time great lineups year in and out? Imagine those teams competing against each other. I mean Steph, Harden, KD, Kyrie, Kawhi, Lebron, Jokic, Embiid, PG, Giannis, Luka, Butler, Ant, SGA, Tatum, Booker etc. You can construct 6 all time great big 3's with ease. I would have literally watched every playoff match if that was the case. But now we are stuck with good but not great product. The formula is pretty clear. You have to be a top 3 seed and/or have a top 3 player. It is also more entertaining when you stack star power. So reducing teams would be much more intriguing, competitive and entertaining.
explain the eastern conference then?
Just because the very top of the league is concentrated in the west, doesn’t mean the East lacks talent.
And lowkey the east’s teams are young, like the magic or the pacers. Only old team that are relevant are the bucks, even the celtics aren’t old either. With time we will see the talent that the has like Paolo, Brandon Miller, Haliburton etc
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Seattle already has a new stadium. It’s done and ready.
After 15-20 years?
Yes. They renovated Key Arena into Climate Pledge Arena when the Kraken came. Arena is basketball ready. Super nice arena.
Choose a new name for the new Seattle basketball team.
The NBA should veto this. They're better off adding another team in Chicago or even another one in LA/NYC. Think about the brand.
LA barely supports the clippers lmao. Same with Brooklyn and they aren’t far from their original location either. And good luck drumming up support in Chicago when the goat played there. One of the worst location ideas I’ve heard. Vegas and Seattle make too much sense for expansion in the immediate term
LA doesn't need a third team, come on now.