SEATTLE — The irony was not lost as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stood in front of a podium in Oklahoma City to talk about a potential Sonics return.
It is, after all, the home of the former Seattle Supersonics.
“We recognize that there are underserved markets in the United States,” Silver said as he was prompted about league expansion. “I’d say the current sense is that we should be exploring it.”
The Seattle Supersonics left for Oklahoma City in July of 2008 and are now playing in the NBA Finals. There were multiple questions about how an expansion process would work to return a Sonics franchise to the Emerald City.
Silver moved the ball forward.
“We have an owner’s meeting in July in Las Vegas and it will be on the agenda to take the temperature of the room. We already have committees that are already talking about it, but my sense is at that meeting that they are going to give direction to me and my colleagues at the league office that we should continue to explore it,” said Silver.
When prompted later if that meant a formalized process, Silver replied, “It would be more of a formal process; there has been no lack of interest.”
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Silver has given carefully measured statements at press conferences before, and suggested that the expansion process would begin last fall. Then, it was this season, and now July.
He has since acknowledged that one of the hangups has been the sale of the Boston Celtics and the need for that process to play out. A tentative deal is in place to transfer that franchise’s ownership at a cost of more than $6 billion.
NBA expansion fees could be upwards of $4 to 5 billion, depending on who you want to believe.
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The ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves has also been resolved. The only other team for sale is Portland’s Trailblazers, although it is not believed the NBA has an interest in moving that franchise, especially with a WNBA team to begin play there next year.
Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena has a vacant space on the lower level for a “future NBA locker room,” and Kraken Owner Samantha Holloway has said she and her investors are interested in being part of any NBA solution.
Climate Pledge Arena has hosted three NBA exhibition games in three seasons, with Los Angeles Clippers Owner and Seattleite Steve Ballmer giving a pre-game speech to fire up the crowd each time.
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