With the NBA finally getting its new media rights deal done that will bring in $76 million over the next 11 years from ESPN, NBC, and Amazon, the next major change coming for the league is expansion. Adam Silver says it was not a topic that was formally discussed at the Board of Governors meeting earlier this month, but it is not exactly a secret that expansion is on the horizon and something the commissioner has said is on the to-do list once the new TV deal was finalized.
The reason for that is the league needed to get its financial future secured because adding two more teams further splits the pie for revenue sharing. However, that is offset to a large degree by the expansion fee that gets divided among the current owners, on top of the increased footprint of the NBA that brings the potential for more revenue. There are two cities that are considered the heavy favorites for new teams: Seattle and Las Vegas (where LeBron James is expected to be part of an ownership bid). Seattle has been campaigning for a team since the SuperSonics were moved to Oklahoma City (and nearly swiped the Kings from Sacramento more than a decade ago), while Vegas has become a frequent host of NBA events like Summer League and the NBA Cup semifinals and final.
A Vegas team would be a completely new entity, but the people of Seattle (and general NBA fans, as well) wouldn’t want a new name. The good news is, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN explained in a lengthy piece covering what expansion could look like, the Sonics would indeed be making a return without any fight from the Thunder.
The deal between Thunder ownership and the city of Seattle resolving a lawsuit over the team’s arena lease and allowing the move to Oklahoma City stipulated that the name SuperSonics and all associated logos, colors and trademark would be transferred to the owner of a new NBA team approved to play at a renovated KeyArena at no cost.
That agreement laid out the terms of shared ownership of Sonics history, including the team’s 1979 championship trophy and retired jerseys. Officially, the NBA combines the history of the two teams. For example, the league recognizes Payton as Oklahoma City’s career leader in games played.
Windhorst adds that the Thunder don’t even use Sonics history for their own record books, and that a new Sonics franchise would be able to reclaim the team’s history from before 2008 — as happened when Charlotte rebranded to the Hornets and New Orleans rebranded to the Pelicans.
While there are still plenty of hurdles to clear towards expansion, it’s expected the NBA will have two new teams on the court by 2027. Seattle may not be on that list in ink just yet, but it’d be shocking if the Sonics weren’t part of it and happily there wouldn’t be any issue restoring the franchise’s name and history to Seattle.
