The NBA used to be in Seattle. Many young NBA fans now have no idea that Seattle even had a team at some point. They had never seen Shawn Kemp aka “The Rain man” and his amazing dunks, or Gary “The Glove” Payton, who would trash talk his opponent until they couldn’t hear anymore and who would wreak havoc on the defensive end. And how could I forget, Kevin Durant’s rookie year was playing as member of the former Seattle Supersonics franchise, where he won rookie of the year and showed a lot of promise. The team looked to have a future building block with Durant, but the problem was new ownership had other plans that didn’t involve having Durant or anyone else playing in Seattle. In the summer of 2008, the Sonics were moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and left a bitter taste with loyal Supersonic fans.
The following year while still in Seattle the team drafted a guy from UCLA named Russell Westbrook, and then the impossible happened. The owners lied to the city of Seattle and said that they would build a new arena for this then sinking franchise who had potential building blocks for the future. The owners though resided in Oklahoma City and had no intention of ever building a new arena. They instead moved the team with promising young talent to Oklahoma, and became the “Oklahoma City Thunder.”
Seattle fans were disappointed and sad, and had no backing from NBA commissoner David Stern who for some reason was backing the owner instead of the city that homed the Sonics since 1967. The Sonics were at one time a proud, competitive, and respected franchise. Unfortunately, the team was in a fire sale mode at the time of the move and the previous ownership group led by Howard Schultz wanted to keep the teams payroll down until he and his group sold the team. It was a tough situation for the coaches and general manager who really couldn’t make moves because the team was in limbo with its ownership.
To make a long story short, Sonics fans were robbed of there team. This was Seattle’s first ever professional franchise to come to Seattle, and the first to leave. The NBA has had a number of teams in the past move from one city to another, but when the Sonics moved a piece of basketball was missing. The Supersonics were a stable in the NBA. They were the arch rivals to the Portland Trailblazers and the Los Angeles Lakers, not just for years, but for decades. They had a great following and were a fun team to watch.
The Sonics always had a great fan base, and not to mention there awesome logos and colors. The Sonics were a team that played in the NBA’s golden age. When they were taken away from the City of Seattle, there was a bitter taste in the mouths of Sonics fans who couldn’t even stand the site of looking at the NBA logo. It was a horrible time for every sports fan from Seattle, who grew up watching the Sonics. With every sports franchise there is always good times and bad times, but that is the thing about sports and why many like myself love to watch the game of basketball. Teams fall, lose, and look horrible, but they do comeback and usually thrive when they do. Now the question is does Seattle deserve to have the Sonics back in the NBA. Should it be at the cost of another franchise though? My answer is yes to both, here’s why.
The other franchise that is seeing this happen to them is the lowly “Sacramento Kings.” The Kings have called Sacramento home since the early part of the 1980’s. They had a lot of success during the early part of the 2000’s, but have failed to rebuild and are now considered a typical losing franchise who no one wants to play for.
The current owners of the Kings have tried for years to get a new arena built in Sacramento, but have had no kind of success. As a result of constant failure to get a new arena, the Kings are now being lobbied by an ownership group who intends to move the team to Seattle and restore the Supersonics franchise. I think that this is a great move by the group who is offering to buy the team for more than $550 million dollars for a team with no future and a bad culture of losing.
The Kings will not have any success if they stay in Sacramento. The team has not looked good at all. Sure they have had talent, but they have never had the backing from ownership or city. The fans are the ones who will suffer from this of course, but at the same time, the fans must speak up and have to demand that there team succeed at a high level. It’s all about winning. The Sacramento Kings have not won anything or have been competitive for years and the city continues to give false hopes to the fans with regards to a new arena. This potential move to Seattle may give this franchise a new breath of fresh air and a new winning culture.
I may be wrong for saying what I am about the Sacramento Kings being moved to Seattle, but the Kings are a small market team that is hurting the league by losing and not being competitive. The NBA really needs to look at not just the Kings situation, but at other teams who are in the same boat as well. The league going forward should looked to eliminate teams who are in small markets and have no kind of backing from its cities and or owners. Winning is everything and if the team is moved to Seattle than they will succeed and have the backing of owners and the city to win.
The city of Seattle deserves to have a team and if it’s at the expense of another than so be it. Sacramento has nothing to offer the Kings franchise because if indeed the city cared, then this wouldn’t be an issue or a story. The Seattle Supersonics or the Seattle Kings have a good ring to it. Seattle will be back in the NBA before we know it, and the legends that played with the previous franchise will now have their team back along with the fans and the city.
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