Oceanside, NY (MPN) – In March, the NBA owners approved plans to explore potential expansion of the league to 32 teams, with two cities being brought into focus, Las Vegas, which has long been eyed as an expansion city, and Seattle, which lost its team in 2008.
Last Friday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that Adam Silver told owners that Seattle was “no longer a lock” for expansion, and that a group from Mexico City, was preparing a more lucrative offer, and this Friday, a report came out from Evan Sidery, that the league was pivoting away from reviving the SuperSonics, with a Mexico City-based group offering $10 Billion for expansion.
For Seattle fans, this news is not a shock, as the league has been dangling a carrot in front of them for 18 years, and even something supposedly as “concrete” as expansion was never a guarantee, and now, the NBA is once more showing its rear to a city that has fought long and hard for an NBA Team to return.
This Was Always Something I Believed Was a Risk
I have been following the SuperSonics saga since it first unfolded, and I have been forever skeptical of expansion, as I believed it sounded too good to be true.
Expansion rumors over the last 10-20 years, particularly in the NBA and NFL, have pointed in a very different direction, instead of domestic markets, the spotlight has been drawn on international cities, such as London, Madrid, Paris, and of course, Mexico City.
For Seattle, this meant that the offer had to be appealing enough to outweigh the allure of international expansion, which, compared to competing against domestic markets, is a challenge in itself, as being the only team in a country, is bound to generate more profit, than another American team.
The NBA seems laser focused on one domestic city, Las Vegas, as the city has been the gambling center of this country since the 1950s, and it has become even more prominent in the era of legalized gambling
Adam Silver Did Little to Assuage the Fear
On Tuesday, Adam Silver made an appearance on the show of former Colts Kicker turned personality, Pat McAfee, where he spoke about expansion in length, in which he reiterated the league was looking at expansion in Las Vegas and Seattle, but also mentioned Mexico City as something that could happen “Down the Road”.
While some have attempted to sell this as a walk back of the Mexico City story Windhorst released on Friday, the comments do not seem to allay those fears at all, as “Down the Road” is as vague and open to interpretation as you can get. It also doesn’t help that Silver referred to it as the largest city in North America, which it is.
Seattle Has Suffered Enough
Since Clay Bennett moved the Sonics, the City of Seattle has waited for 18 years to get an NBA Team back, nearly succeeding in 2013, when billionaires Chris Hansen and Steve Ballmer nearly purchased the Sacramento Kings for $625 Million, before the league, in an effort mainly led by then-deputy commissioner Adam Silver, blocked the move, and helped get the Kings sold to a group led by Vivek Ranadivé.
Since then, the NBA has repeatedly shot down expansion,, leaving Seattle without men’s basketball. From 2022-2024, the NBA Played Preseason Games at Climate Pledge Arena, and interest in those games was enough to eventually get the ball rolling on expansion,
When the league announced in March that the process was opening for Las Vegas and Seattle, there was optimism for the first time, but now, that optimism has faded, and the league is once more leaving Seattle in the dust.
Seattle fans have endured the most suffering from this, and after 18 years, it’s enough. The NBA has repeatedly toyed with the city, promising them a chance at a team, and now, that the offers its getting to put a team in Seattle aren’t “good enough”, the NBA is looking in another direction.
Adam Silver’s comments are not reassurances, if anything, they’re confirmation, and if the NBA won’t give them a team now, then it owes them a chance to close the book on this issue once and for all.
The Sonics Records Should Be Returned to Seattle
The NBA has stated in the past that if the Sonics do come back, it would receive the records of the original SuperSonics team, which right now, remain with the Oklahoma City Thunder. But the question here is why wait ?
The Thunder barely acknowledge the records as it is, and the league has an opportunity to lay the groundwork for Seattle to reclaim it.
If a team doesn’t come to Seattle, then the records should still be returned, the franchise declared defunct, and a Museum honoring the SuperSonics, should be built.
Doing this would allow the team to be honored properly, and allow the city to celebrate the team it once hosted without the records being held in a storage locker.
But, if the league does decide to expand to Seattle, then allowing the franchise to be declared inactive opens the door for its reactivation, a process that would go over a lot smoother if it was already done.
But for now, we sit and wait, and while we do, I will continue to post updates about this story, as it unfolds.