The Seattle SuperSonics , commonly known as Sonics , is a professional American basketball team based in Seattle, Washington. The SuperSonics played at the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the Western division of the Western Pacific Conference and the Northwest division from 1967 to 2008. After the 2007-08 season ended, the team moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and now plays as Thunder City of Oklahoma.
Sam Schulman had a team from early 1967 to 1983. It was owned by Barry Ackerley (1983-2001), and later the Seattle Basketball Club, led by Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz (2001-2006). On July 18, 2006, Seattle Basketball Club sold SuperSonics and its National Basketball Association (WNBA) associate, Seattle Storm, to Professional Basketball Club LLC, headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. The sale was approved by the NBA Board of Governors on October 24, 2006, and completed on 31 October 2006, at which time the new ownership group took control. After failing to find public funding to build a new arena in the Seattle area, the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City before the 2008-09 season, after a $ 45 million settlement with the city of Seattle to pay its current rental team at KeyArena in Seattle Center ahead of the 2010 expiration.
The home game is played at KeyArena, originally known as the Seattle Center Coliseum, for 33 of 41 seasons of franchising in Seattle. In 1978, the team moved to Kingdome, which is shared with Seattle Mariners from Major League Baseball (MLB) and Seattle Seahawks from the National Football League (NFL). They returned to the full-time Coliseum in 1985, temporarily moved to the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington, for the 1994-95 season while the Coliseum was renovated and renamed KeyArena.
The SuperSonics won the NBA championship in 1979. Overall, the franchise won three Western Conference titles: 1978, 1979, and 1996. The franchise also won six division titles, their last in 2005, with five in the Pacific Division and one in the Western Division Sea. Terms of lawsuit settlement between Seattle city and Clay Bennett's ownership group stipulates that SuperSonics banners, trophies and retirees remain in Seattle; nicknames, logos, and color schemes are available for each of the next NBA teams playing in KeyArena that have been renovated with NBA approval. The history of the SuperSonics franchise, however, will be shared with Thunder.
Video Seattle SuperSonics
Franchise history
Team creation
On December 20, 1966, Los Angeles businessman Sam Schulman and Eugene V. Klein, who had the AFL San Diego Chargers at the time, and a group of minority partners were awarded an NBA franchise for the city of Seattle. Schulman will act as an active partner and head of team operations. He named SuperSonics after a recent contract awarded Boeing for the SST project, which was later canceled. SuperSonics is the first major league sports franchise in Seattle.
Started playing on October 13, 1967, SuperSonics was trained by Al Bianchi and featured All-Star guard Walt Hazzard and members of the NBA All-Rookie Team Bob Rule and Al Tucker. The expansion team stumbled out of the gate with a loss of 144-116 in their first game in San Francisco against the San Francisco Warriors. The team got their first win on October 21, their third game of the season in San Diego against the San Diego Rockets in an overtime extension of 117-110, and ended the season with a 23-59 record.
1968-1975: Lenny Wilkens Era
Hazzard traded to the Atlanta Hawks before the start of the next season for Lenny Wilkens. Wilkens brings a powerful all-around game to the SuperSonics, averaging 22.4 points, 8.2 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game for Seattle in the 1968-69 season. Rule, meanwhile, increased rookie statistics with 24.0 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game. The SuperSonics, however, only won 30 games and Bianchi was replaced by Wilkens as a player/coach during the offseason.
Wilkens and Rule represented Seattle in the NBA All-Star Game 1970, and Wilkens led the NBA in assists during the 1969-70 season. In June 1970, NBA owners voted 13-4 to work towards a merger with ABA; SuperSonics owner Sam Schulman, member of the ABA-NBA merger committee in 1970, is excited to join the league he publicly announced that if the NBA does not accept a merger agreement working with ABA, he will move SuperSonics from NBA to ABA. Schulman also threatened to move the ABA team that soon became Los Angeles to compete directly with the Lakers. The Oscar Robertson suit delayed the merger, and the SuperSonics remained in Seattle. At the start of the 1970-71 season, however, Rule tore his Achilles tendon and lost for the rest of the year.
Arrival of Spencer Haywood
Wilkens was named 1971 All-Star Game MVP, but the big news this season came when owner Sam Schulman managed to land American Basketball Association Rookie of the Year and MVP Spencer Haywood after a long court battle (see Haywood v. National Basketball Assn. ). The following season, SuperSonics went on to record their first winning season at 47-35. The team, led by Wilkens coach and First Team forward Haywood, held a 46-27 mark on March 3, but a season-ending injury to Haywood's beginner Dick Snyder and Don Smith contributed to the team's eight losses from its last nine games; if not, the 1971-72 team is likely to be the first playoff team of the franchise.
For the 1972-73 season, Wilkens tackled Cleveland in a very unpopular trade, and without his leadership, the SuperSonics fell to a 26-56 record. One of the few bright spots in the season was the second All-NBA First Team team in a row, as it averaged a record SuperSonics 29.2 points per game and garnered 12.9 rebounds per game. 1975-1983: _The_championship_years "> 1975-1983: The championship years
The legendary Bill Russell was hired as head coach the following year, and in 1975 he coached the SuperSonics to the playoffs for the first time. The team, starring Haywood, guards Fred Brown and Slick Watts, and rookie center Tommy Burleson, defeated the Detroit Pistons in three mini-series games before falling to the eventual Golden State Warriors champion in six games. The following season, SuperSonics trades Haywood to New York forcing the remaining players to take offensive offensives. Guard Fred Brown, now in his fifth season, was elected to the 1976 NBA All-Star Player and finished fifth in the league with an average score and free throw percentage. The Burleson game continues to strengthen, while Watts leads the NBA in both assists and steals and is named to the First Team of All-NBA Defense. SuperSonics again made the playoffs, but lost to the Phoenix Suns in six games despite the strong appearances of Brown (28.5 ppg) and Burleson (20.8 ppg) during the series.
Russell left SuperSonics after the 1976-77 season, and under new coach Bob Hopkins, the team started the season with a disappointment at 5-17. Lenny Wilkens was brought back to replace Hopkins, and the team's fate soon turned around. The SuperSonics won 11 of their first 12 games under Wilkens, finishing the season at 47-35, winning the Western Conference title, and leading the Washington Bullets three games to two before losing in seven games in the 1978 NBA Finals. In addition to the loss of Marvin Webster's center to New York, the SuperSonics list remained intact during the deserted season, and in the 1978-79 season they won their first division title. In the playoffs, SuperSonics defeated the Phoenix Suns in a severe seven-game heavyweek conference to set up a rematch with the Washington Bullets in the finals. This time, Bullets lost to SuperSonics in five games to give Seattle his first title, and only, the NBA. List of championship teams include strong backcourt tandem Gus Williams and Finals MVP Dennis Johnson, second-year All-Star center Jack Sikma, forward John Johnson and Lonnie Shelton, and key reserves Fred Brown and Paul Silas.
The 1979-1980 season saw the SuperSonics finish second in the Pacific Division to the Los Angeles Lakers with a strong 56-26 record. Fred Brown won the NBA's first three-point photo shoot, Jack Sikma played in both of Seattle's seven All-Star Games awards, Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson both named to the Second Team All-NBA, and Johnson was also named to the First All-NBA Defense Team for the second year in a row. SuperSonics made it to the Western Conference Finals for the third consecutive season, but lost to the Lakers in five games. This is the last time the team behind Williams and Johnson will play together in the SuperSonics uniform, when Johnson traded to the Phoenix Suns before the start of the 1980-81 season and Williams missed this year due to a contract dispute. As a result, SuperSonics fell to the last place in the Pacific Division with a 34-48 mark, so far the only time they have ever completed in the last place. Williams returned for the 1981-82 season, and Seattle managed to score 52-30 and 48-34 over the next two years.
In 1981, the Sonics also create Sonics superchannel , the first sports subscription cable services; subscriptions are available for $ 120 ($ 1.33 per game). It was closed after the 1984-85 season.
1983-1989: The period of decline
In October 1983, the original team owner Sam Schulman sold SuperSonics to Barry Ackerley, initiating a period of decline and mediocrity for the franchise. In 1984, Fred Brown retired after playing 13 productive seasons, all with Seattle. His career reflected much of the history of SuperSonics at the time because he was on the same team list as Rule and Wilkens during his rookie season, playing a key role in Seattle's first playoff team, becoming the sixth man of the year's championship. In recognition of his many contributions to the team, Brown's number was retired in 1986. Lenny Wilkens left the organization after the 1984-85 season, and when Jack Sikma traded after the 1985-86 season, the last remaining bond to the SuperSonics' championship team (apart from Frank Furtado) has been disconnected.
Among some highlights of the SuperSonics in the second half of the 1980s was Tom Chambers' MVP All-Star Game award in 1987, a surprise performance of Seattle in the 1987 Western Conference Finals, despite setting a regular season 39-43 record during the 1986-87 season, trio of power Chambers, Xavier McDaniel, and Dale Ellis. In 1987-1988, three players each averaged more than 20 points per game with Ellis at 25.8 ppg, McDaniel at 21.4, and Chambers at 20.4. In the 1988-89 season, with Chambers having signed a contract with Phoenix, Ellis increased his score to 27.5 points per game and finished second in the league with a three-point percentage. The SuperSonics finished with a 47-35 record, and made it to the second round of playoffs in 1989.
1989-1998: Payton Era/Kemp
SuperSonics began establishing a new foundation by drafting Shawn Kemp in 1989 and escorting Gary Payton in 1990, and trading Dale Ellis and Xavier McDaniel to other teams during the 1990-91 season. It was the arrival of George Karl as head coach in 1992, however, which marked his return to the regular season and playoff competition for SuperSonics. With continued improvements from Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, SuperSonics scored a 55-27 record in the 1992-93 season and brought the Phoenix Suns to seven games in the Western Conference Finals.
The following year, 1993-1994, SuperSonics had the best record in the NBA at 63-19, but suffered a first-round loss to the Denver Nuggets, becoming the first # 1 seed to lose the playoff series to the 8th seed. The Sonics moved to the Tacoma Dome for the 1994-95 season while the Coliseum underwent renovations and went on to earn second place 57-25 records. Again, the Sonics crashed out in the first half, this time to the Los Angeles Lakers in four games. The team returned to the rebuilt Coliseum, renamed KeyArena for the 1995-96 season.
Perhaps the strongest list of SuperSonics ever owned was the 1995-96 team, which has the best record of 64-18 franchises. With an in-depth list of All-NBA Second Team Choices Kemp and Payton, forward Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins forward, Hersey Hawkins guard, and guard Nate McMillan, the team reached the NBA Finals but lost to Chicago Bulls-led Michael Jordan in six games. Seattle continued to be the locomotive of the Western Conference for the next two seasons, winning 57 games in 1996-97 and 61 games in 1997-98 for their second and third Pacific Division titles. At the end of the 1997-98 season, Sonic and the old defensive specialist, Nate McMillan retired, and a management dispute caused Karl to end his tenure as head coach even though he won the Best Coach of 1997-98. He was replaced by former Sonic Paul Westphal for the 1998-99 season.
1998-2008: A decade of struggle
The 1998-99 season saw the SuperSonics back down in a long period in mediocre circumstances. Westphal was fired during the 2000-01 season and was replaced by assistant coach Nate McMillan meanwhile, eventually losing the "temporary" label the following year. The 2002-03 season saw All-Star Gary Payton traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, and it also marked the end of a 11-year span of SuperSonics having a season with a minimum winning percentage of.500, the second longest streak currently in the NBA at the time.
The 2004-05 team surprised many when it won the sixth division title of the organization under the leadership of Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis, winning 52 games and defeating the Sacramento Kings in the first round of the 2005 NBA Playoff and progressing to the 2005 Western Conference Semifinals where the Sonics will continue to lose 6 matches with trio Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and Manu GinÃÆ'³bili and San Antonio Spurs, who will then defeat the Detroit Pistons in the 2005 NBA Finals. This appearance also marks the last time that this SuperSonics incarnation will make the playoffs. During the off-season in 2005, head coach Nate McMillan left the Sonics to accept a high pay position to train the Portland Trail Blazers. After his departure, the team suffered a setback the next season with a 35-47 record.
2007-08: Kevin Durant's Visit
On May 22, 2007, SuperSonics was awarded second choice in the 2007 NBA draft, equaling the team's highest draft position. They chose Kevin Durant from the University of Texas. On June 28, 2007, SuperSonics traded Ray Allen and 35th-round pick (Glen Davis) in the 2007 NBA draft to the Boston Celtics for the right to vote for Jeff Brown, Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West. On July 11, 2007, SuperSonics and Orlando Magic approved a sign and trade for Rashard Lewis. SuperSonics receives a second round of pick design in the future and a $ 9.5 million trade exclusion from Magic. On July 20, SuperSonics used a second-round trade exemption and draft pick to acquire Kurt Thomas and two draft first-round drafts from the Phoenix Suns.
In 2008, low spirits at the start of the SuperSonics season when talks with City of Seattle for a new arena have failed. Sonics has gained the franchise player with a second overall choice in the NBA draft with Durant. However, with the Allen Sonics trade lacking a lot of talent to surround their newcomers forward, as they lost their first eight games under coach P. J. Carlesimo on the way to a 3-14 record in the first month of the season. Durant will meet expectations, as he leads all beginners in scoring at 20.3 ppg and wins the Rookie of the Year award. However, the Seattle SuperSonics posted the worst record of the 20-62 franchise. It will end up being the last season in Seattle because Bennett has finally gained the right to move the team after completing all legal issues with the city.
Relocation to Oklahoma City
From 2001 to 2006, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is the majority owner of the team, along with 58 partners or small owners, as part of the Seattle LLP Basketball Club. On July 18, 2006, Schultz sold SuperSonics and its twin teams, Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in Seattle Storm, to Professional Basketball Club LLC (PBC), a group of businessmen from Oklahoma City for $ 350 million. The team moved to Oklahoma City in 2008, and now plays as Thunder City of Oklahoma.
In 2006, after unsuccessful attempts to persuade Washington state government officials to provide funds to update KeyArena, the Seattle LLP Basketball Club, led by Howard Schultz, sold the team to Professional Basketball Club LLC (PBC), an investment group led by Oklahoma City Entrepreneur, Clay Bennett. The purchase, worth US $ 350 million, also includes the Seattle Storm WNBA franchise. Schultz sold the franchise to Bennett's group because they thought that Bennett would not move the franchise to Oklahoma City but kept it in Seattle. Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett was quoted as saying: "I think it's arrogant to assume that Clay Bennett and his ownership group will not have the Seattle team for a very long time in Seattle or elsewhere.It's arrogant to assume they will move the franchise to Oklahoma City "said Cornett. "I understand that people will say it seems like a possible scenario, but that is just speculation."
After failing to persuade the local government to fund a $ 500 million arena complex on the outskirts of Seattle, Renton, Bennett's group told the National Basketball Association (NBA) that they intend to move the team to Oklahoma City and ask arbitration with the city of Seattle to become exempt from Sonics lease with KeyArena. When the request was rejected by the judge, Seattle sued Bennett's group to enforce a lease that requires the team to play at KeyArena until 2010.
The NBA owner gave the approval of a potential SuperSonics relocation to Oklahoma City on April 18 in a 28-2 election by the League Board of Governors; only Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks and Paul Allen of the Portland Trail Blazers opposed the move. The agreement means the Sonics will be allowed to move to Oklahoma City's Ford Center for the 2008-09 season after reaching an agreement with the city of Seattle.
On July 2, 2008, a settlement was reached that allowed the team to move under certain conditions, including a $ 45 million ownership group payout for Seattle and an additional possibility of $ 30 million in 2013 if the new team has not been awarded. to the city. It was agreed that the SuperSonics name would not be used by the Oklahoma City team and that the team's history would be shared between Oklahoma City and the future NBA team in Seattle. The team began playing Oklahoma City Thunder for the 2008-09 NBA season, having become the third NBA franchise to be relocated within the past decade. The two previous teams to move were the Vancouver Grizzlies, who moved to Memphis, Tennessee and began playing as the Memphis Grizzlies for the 2001-02 NBA season; and Charlotte Hornets, who moved to New Orleans and began playing as the New Orleans Hornets for the 2002-03 NBA season.
In the months before the settlement, Seattle publicly released an email conversation that took place in Bennett's ownership group and alleged that they showed at least some group members having a desire to move the team to Oklahoma City before the purchase in 2006. Prior to that, Sonics Co-owner Aubrey McClendon told Oklahoma City's The Journal Record that "we did not buy a team to store it in Seattle, we hope to come here", though Bennett rejects this knowledge. Seattle used this incident to argue that possession failed to negotiate in good faith, prompting Schultz to file a lawsuit that sought to overturn a team sale and transfer ownership to a court-appointed beneficiary. The NBA claimed Schultz's lawsuit was nullified by Schultz signing the acquittal prohibiting him from suing the Bennett group, but also argued that the proposal would violate league ownership rules. Schultz dropped the case before the start of the 2008-09 NBA season.
In 2009, Seattle filmmakers called the Seattle SuperSonics Historical Preservation Society produced a critically acclaimed documentary called Sonicsgate - Requiem For A Team that details the rise and fall of the Seattle SuperSonics franchise. The film focuses on a more embarrassing aspect of the team's departure from Seattle, and won the 2010 Webby Award for 'Best Sports Movie'.
Possibility of a new franchise
Sacramento Kings
In 2011, a group of investors led by Valiant Capital Management's hedge fund founder Chris Hansen spoke with Seattle's mayor Mike McGinn about the possibility of investing in the arena in the hope of securing the NBA franchise and reviving SuperSonics. A bid was made by McGinn to Hansen to gain possession of KeyArena with little or no money to assist in his efforts. Because KeyArena is deemed unacceptable by the NBA and even barely operating, the facility may need to be flattened and newly built on the site. Determining there was a transportation problem in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood around Seattle Center, Hansen refused to build a new arena in another location.
Hansen began secretly buying available land near Safeco Field in Seattle's SoDo industrial neighborhood, at the southern end of the so-called District Transition Overlay District second homes Safeco Field MLB home Seattle Mariners and CenturyLink Field homes of Seattle Seahawks NFL and MLS Seattle Sounders. Shortly thereafter, Hansen presented to McGinn and King County Executive, Dow Constantine, proposals for basketball, hockey, and entertainment at the SoDo site. McGinn hired a stadium consultant on behalf of the city to study the feasibility of such a project. Local media paid attention to the purchase of land and began postulating that it was for an arena. Rumors about the meeting between McGinn and Hansen's investment group began to circulate at the end of 2011 and finally recognized in early 2012.
At that time, rumors that Hansen would start chasing a vulnerable franchise to be relocated to Seattle began to make the rounds. Most of the discussions centered on the Sacramento Kings, a struggling franchise that has been trying to draw up plans to replace the aging Sleep Train Arena, then called the Power Balance Pavilion, for years without luck. While Hansen did not speak publicly about his wishes or his pursuit for a particular team, rumors raged enough that Think Big Sacramento, a community action group created by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson to develop solutions for Kings, compiled an open letter to Hansen. asking him not to chase the city team. Meanwhile, negotiations between McGinn, Constantine and Hansen continue the development of a memorandum of understanding that will expose relationships to public-private partnerships in the new arena.
On May 16, 2012, after reaching agreement, McGinn, Constantine, and Hansen presented a proposed Memorandum of Understanding to the public. McGinn and Constantine have insisted on a number of protections for Seattle and King County residents, in particular that no public financing on the project will be done until Hansen and his investors have secured the NBA team to become the main tenant. The MOU proposal includes a financial model that makes the project "self-financed", in which no new tax will be imposed to provide the funds and municipal bonds issued will be repaid by the taxes and revenues generated solely by the new arena. The proposal was submitted to Seattle City Council and King County Council for review and approval.
The King County Council decided to approve the MOU on July 30, 2012, adding amendments provided to work with Port of Seattle, securing the SuperSonics naming rights, offering ticket rebates, support for the Seattle Storm WnBA franchise and requiring economic analysis. The Agreement also provided that any changes made by the Seattle City Council, which still have not voted on the proposal, will need to be elected and approved separately. The Seattle Board had announced that morning that their own amendments were intended and negotiations began.
Hansen and Seattle City Council announced on September 11, 2012 a tentative agreement on a revised MOU that included the amendment of the regional council and new provisions, particularly personal guarantees from Hansen to cover not only the cost of building new arenas but to make any backfall for annual payments municipal bonds issued. To address the concerns of Port of Seattle, Seattle Mariners, and local industries, SoDo's transportation repair fund is maintained at $ 40 million with tax revenues generated by the arena also included. Also, all parties agree that the transaction document will not be signed and the construction will not commence before the required country environmental impact analysis is completed. With a 7-2 vote, the Seattle City Council approved a revised MOU on September 24, 2012. The King County Council reviewed the amended MOU and agreed unanimously approval on October 15, 2012. The final MoU was signed and fully implemented by Mayor McGinn and Executive Constantine on October 18, 2012, commenced the effective period of the five-year agreement.
In June 2012, it was revealed that Hansen's investment partners included then-Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and brothers Erik and Peter Nordstrom from fashion retailers Nordstrom, Inc. Peter Nordstrom has been a minority SuperSonics owner under the ownership of Howard Schultz. Wally Walker, a former Sonics executive, was also later revealed to be part of the Hansen group. On January 9, 2013, media reports appear linked to the majority sale of Sacramento Kings ownership to Hansen, Ballmer, Nordstroms, and Walker for $ 500 million to move to Seattle as early as the 2013-14 NBA season.
On 20 January 2013, sources reported that the Maloof family had reached a binding purchase and sale agreement to sell ownership group Hansen and Ballmer, their 53% majority stake in the Kings franchise, pending approval from the NBA Board of Governors. The next day, the NBA, Hansen, and Maloofs all released a statement announcing the agreement, which also included a 12% minority stake in owner Robert Hernreich, and based on a sale price on the team's $ 525 million valuation. Sacramento mayor Johnson offered a quick refusal to the announcement, stating that the agreement was not done and that Sacramento would have a chance to present a counter offer to the NBA.
David Stern, then the NBA Commissioner, confirmed on February 6, 2013, that Maloof had filed documents to the league office to formally request the relocation of Kings from Sacramento to Seattle on behalf of a potential new ownership group. Johnson, with guidance from Stern and the NBA league office, began collecting an alternative ownership group that would keep Kings in Sacramento and help build a new arena. On February 26, 2013, the Sacramento City Council decided to negotiate with an unnamed group of investors announced two days later to be led by the grocer and developer Ron Burkle and Mark Mastrov, founder of 24 Hour Fitness. An initial offer made available to the NBA by the new group is considered "not comparable" as a reasonable consideration. Burkle eventually left the group due to a conflict with other business interests, but offered to be the premier developer of land around the planned downtown location of the new arena to assist in the city's public funding council section for the project. Mastrov took the backseat to Vivek Ranadivà ©  ©, founder and CEO of TIBCO and minority owners of the Golden State Warriors, brought in to gather a stronger group of investors. Others, including Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm's CEO, Sacramento developer Mark Friedman, former Facebook executive Chris Kelly, and manufacturer Raj Bhathal, were added to the group to overcome team ownership and investment arena.
Ahead of the annual Board of Governors meeting in which they are expected to vote on the approval of the sale of Kings to the Hansen and Ballmer groups, as well as relocation requests, members of the NBA finance and relocation committee hold a meeting in New York City on April 3, 2013, for the Seattle and the Sacramento group to each present their proposal. Each vote will only be in the PSA presented by Hansen and Ballmer, and the Sacramento proposal is considered a "backup offer". Out of the meeting, the NBA removed the vote from the BOG meeting agenda and postponed the ballot for two weeks while the information was reviewed. Despite expressing a desire to the contrary, a bidding war began between Hansen and RanadivÃÆ'Â's group, including Hansen raising the team's assessment of their offer twice from $ 525 million to $ 550 million to $ 625 million, and RanadivÃÆ'Â Â offers to cancel the division team earnings that often make the smaller market teams like Kings stable financially.
With a meeting of the Board of Governors to choose to move again into mid-May, the group was asked to make another short presentation to the full relocation committee on April 29, 2013. The committee voted to recommend refusal of relocation requests to full boarding. When the Board of Governors finally convened in Dallas on May 15, 2013, they heard the final presentation of the Seattle and Sacramento groups. BOG voted 22-8 against the removal of Kings from Sacramento to Seattle. Because the PSA for the team's sales, for all intents and purposes, depends on relocation, the NBA rejects sales without a vote.
Though initially resilient to the idea, after negotiations, on May 17, 2013, the Maloof and Hernreich families formally agreed to sell their ownership stake in Kings (65% of the team, valued at US $ 535 million) for ownership of the RanadivÃÆ'Â © group. Part of the $ 348 million purchase was considered paid with the $ 30 million non-refundable deposit Chris Hansen had paid to Maloofs to build their business relationship, even though Hansen had no ownership stake in the team.
Milwaukee Bucks
In September 2013, then-Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, in line to become the next commissioner on David Stern's retirement in February 2014, made the announcement that the Milwaukee Bucks would need to replace the aging BMO Harris Bradley Center due to its small size and lack of facilities. The team recently signed a contract through the 2016-17 NBA season, but the NBA insists that the lease will not be renewed after that point. With the area around Milwaukee that passed the rule that they would not approve the regional tax option to fund the new arena, rumors began to swirl that the owner Herb Kohl would need to sell all or part of his ownership of the team. Although Kohl has repeatedly stated that he will not sell to someone who intends to move the Bucks out of Wisconsin, many have pegged the team as potential candidates to move to Seattle.
On April 16, 2014, it was announced that Kohl had agreed to sell the franchise to hedge-fund investors New York, Marc Lasry and Wesley Edens for a record $ 550 million. The agreement includes provisions for a $ 100 million contribution each from Kohl and a new ownership group, totaling $ 200 million towards the construction of the new downtown arena. During the sales discussions, it was revealed that Hansen and Ballmer had expressed interest in buying the team for more than $ 600 million but had not made an official offer due to Kohl's insistence that the team remain in Milwaukee.
Atlanta Hawks
On January 2, 2015, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Atlanta Spirit, the current owner of the Atlanta Hawks, will get the team sold. Initially, only the majority owner Bruce Levenson would put his stake in the team for sale; However, the remaining minority owners announced that they would sell their shares as well. On January 6, 2015, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that Chris Hansen and film producer Thomas Tull (the last minority owner of Pittsburgh Steelers NFL) will enter a separate offer to get the Hawks and move them to Seattle. However, the NBA states that the Hawks will remain in Atlanta as a condition of their sale; In addition, any attempt to move the Hawks will incur a $ 75 million penalty from the city of Atlanta and Fulton County for breaching the Hawks lease at Philips Arena before 2017. The Hawks are sold to a group led by Tony Ressler on June 24, 2015.
Future arena talk
On May 2, 2016, the Seattle City Council voted 5-4 to vacate the Occidental Avenue South section, which links the properties purchased by Hansen and deemed essential for determining future locations. The vote was seen as a significant setback to the memorandum of understanding between Hansen, the city and King County, which lasted until November 2017. On October 25, 2016, Chris Hansen announced he would fund the arena without public funding. On November 14, 2016, Seattle Seahawks' quarterback Russell Wilson announced that he would invest in an NBA arena effort. However, the initial agreement will eventually expire on December 3, 2017. Nevertheless, Hansen plans to retain the land it owns in the Seattle Stadium District until a commitment to the new Seattle SuperSonics franchise takes place, especially if potential backup plans become justified.
KeyArena's Renovation
While talks on building a new arena are under way, there is also talk of another investor group to renovate the former SuperSonics home, KeyArena. One of the investors is Tim Leiweke, co-founder of Oak View Group. On December 4, 2017, one day after an agreement with SoDo investor Chris Hansen ended, Seattle City Council voted 7-1 to approve KeyArena's renovation, with one person unavailable for the day's ballot. While renovations are considered to have a major focus on installing a new expansion team for the National Hockey League (NHL), the interest for SuperSonics revival is still a distinct possibility with the renovated arena. However, while Hansen and his fellow investors still feel that having the future arena should be considered a backup plan for the future of SuperSonics, they fully support the renovation and will be right next to the Oak View Group in encouraging the team to move. forward if plans to get the NBA team to be successful. The renovation for KeyArena is scheduled to begin around 2018, with complete renovations completed by 2020, before the start of next season in the NBA and NHL.
Maps Seattle SuperSonics
season-by-season record
Home arenas
- KeyArena (formerly Seattle Center Coliseum ) 1967-1978, 1985-1994, 1995-2008
- The Kingdome 1978-1985
- Tacoma Dome 1994-1995 (During KeyArena Remodel)
Uniform
The first uniform of the Seattle SuperSonics "Sonics" is featured in a font that is also used by the Cincinnati Royals (now Sacramento Kings). The road shirt is green and has a letter that is shown in yellow, where the house uniform is white and has a green letter. In 1995, SuperSonics changed their uniforms adding red and orange, removing yellow, to their new shirts that would last for six seasons. It features a new Sonics logo on the front and their alternate logo on shorts. The home uniform has green stripes on the right side of the shirt and shorts, while the green shirt has red stripes.
The last SuperSonics uniform was worn from the 2001-02 NBA season through the 2007-08 NBA season. They were commissioned by owner Howard Schultz for design by Seattle design agency Hornall Anderson. White house T-shirt with green and gold trim, featuring "SONICS" on the chest. Street uniforms are dark green with white and gold accents, with "SEATTLE" on the chest. The alternative uniform is gold with green and white trim, again with "SONICS" curled in the chest. This uniform is a nod to the same style worn from the 1975-76 season to the 1994-95 season.
Rivalry
SuperSonics is a traditional rival with the Portland Trail Blazers because of team closeness; the rivalry has been dubbed I-5 Rivalry in reference to Interstate 5 which connects two cities, which are just 174 miles apart. Competition is quite equal in achievement, with both teams winning one championship each. The all-time record of the competition is 98-94 which supports SuperSonics.
SuperSonics is a rival of the Los Angeles Lakers, mainly because of the long-running team mate in the Western Division of the Western Conference. The sustained success of the Lakers means regular season matches often impact on the NBA Playoffs allowance, with teams being fit for head-to-head play for many battles.
Player
Retired number
Note:
- 1 Also head coach from 2000 to 2005.
- 2 Head coach during 1969-1972 and 1977-1985.
Basketball Hall of Famers
Note:
- 1 In total, Wilkens was inducted into the Hall of Fame three times - as a player, as a coach and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team.
- 2 In total, Ewing was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice - as a player and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team.
- 3 Being posthumously.
- 4 Being switched as a player. Never played for SuperSonics.
- 5 Being sworn as a contributor.
FIBA ​​â € <â €
State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame
Head coach
General Manager
High point
Individual leader
Franchise leader
Printed points (regular season) (as of end of season 2007-08)
Other Stats (regular season) (as of end of season 2007-08)
Individual rewards
See also
- Bob Blackburn, the premier play-by-play announcer, "Seattle SuperSonics Voice" - 1967-1992
- Kevin Calabro, main lead-by-play broadcaster, 1987-2008
- The Wheedle, team mascot, 1978-1985
- Squatch, team mascot, 1993-2008
- Save Our Sonics, a grassroots organization dedicated to preventing team migration from Seattle in 2008.
- Sonicsgate , a feature documentary 2009 that records the history, sales, and relocation of SuperSonics,
- Sonics Arena, a proposal led by American hedge fund manager Chris R. Hansen to build a new multi-purpose arena in Seattle's southern downtown neighborhood
- List of relocated National Basketball Association teams
References
External links
Media related to Seattle SuperSonics on Wikimedia Commons
- The Official Site (February 2008) (Archived)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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