The Seattle area has not seen a professional basketball game since their beloved Supersonics left town in the summer of 2008 and headed towards the midwest to become the Oklahoma City Thunder. In that time, OKC has seen much success behind the stardom of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant including multiple playoff appearances, an NBA Finals showing, an MVP award for Durant and their current run in the playoffs facing off with the San Antonio Spurs in a so far interesting series, to say the least.
Yet despite not having the Seattle Supersonics for nearly a decade, fans in the area have been clamoring for a return of their beloved basketball franchise but their requests have fallen on seemingly deaf ears.
Earlier in the week, there was a deathblow dealt to any hopes of Seattle bringing back an NBA team during a recent Seattle city council vote.
Following from Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times.
In a 5-4 decision, the Seattle City Council voted against giving up part of Occidental Avenue South to entrepreneur Chris Hansen for his arena. Though a memorandum of understanding between Hansen, the city and King County runs through November 2017, odds of a new deal being struck by then seem remote.
In a statement put out on Hansen’s SonicsArena.com website, he said, “Today’s City Council vote was disappointing but we don’t believe it is the end of the road in our quest to bring the NBA and NHL back to Seattle.”
Mayor Ed Murray put out a statement shortly after the vote saying: “Today’s council vote makes it less likely that the NBA will return to the city of Seattle.”
He said he remains committed to exploring options for bringing the NBA and NHL to our region.
The decision prompted Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson to tweet the following:
Baffling this amazing city doesn’t have the #SuperSonics Bring them back! Seattle Loves Basketball!
Seattle deserves a @NBA team
?????
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) May 4, 2016
Will the Sonics return? This vote doesn’t help one bit but the city and their fans still have hope. As do I, because bringing back that old logo with that sick colorway would make for some dope outfits in the future.
