Seattle deserves a team. They have great sports fans. The Seahawks have one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL.
Good for Seattle but you just have to feel for the Kings fans in Sacramento. They don't deserve this.
Great news and exciting for the NBA in general. The NBA needs to be in Seattle, and its exciting that its going to happen so fast. The Key arena is in a fantastic spot right in the heart of downtown that(while not the fanciest building in the world) its still a legendary spot that will bring back warm memories to Sonics fans from back in the day. I do agree though that for Houston it will stink. OKC will most likely get shuffled around and end up in the Rockets division. Also I expect that the team will end up being a much better team after the sale making the West more difficult. I would expect that upon hearing this news Fagan is probably telling Cousins that this is going to be great for his career to stay with the team now, and be the face of the Sonics. Which should be a much more respectable team. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Nate McMillan is the coach next season. He's a sonics legend and an excellent coach. Very exciting. I travel to Seattle quite a bit for work, and hope I can go to a game next year IF this gets done in time for them to still have them there next season with league approval.
Sacramento had a lot of good history. They played fantastic basketball during the Adelman days. Feels weird.
Aaron Brooks guessed correctly! There was a rumor he signed with the Kings with hope they moved to his hometown, Seattle. Seattle fans should be excited. Not only do they get a team again, but with great pieces, and new ownership *should* bring the Kings/Sonics out of teh suck. Also, $500 mil for the Kings? I guess Hansen was desperate to bring basketball back where it belongs. Props to him, but I thought the Kings were only worth $250-$350 mil.
Just thought about this: it would be awkward when the new Seattle Supersonics play on OKC's home court and see all the banners of championship and retired numbers in the rafters that belong to the original Seattle Supersonics.
Felt bad for Gary Payton cause he's in limbo. He's the greatest sonic player to date. They can't retire his number in Oklahoma City.
I remember in an interview not too long ago he said "No offense to what OKC is doing, but I feel no affiliation to them at all.I may recognize some guys up top for them, but my roots are in Seattle". I'm paraphrasing though.
What a shame that Seattle has to steal another cities team to get a stolen team back. Utter travesty.
Too many teams being moved around which is not good for the NBA, makes it look like an amateur league... seriously... the Sonics become the Thunder, the Grizzlies leave Vancouver and go to Memphis, the Hornets leave Charlotte and go to New Orleans and then Charlotte gets the Bobcats.... just stupid all the way around. Leave the Kings in Sacramento and give Seattle an expansion team. Next time dont let teams leave for crappier markets (Hornets/Thunder).
True, but alternatively at least 1 city now can feel a little better about the whole thing. Also, one has to consider the circumstances. The Maloofs were selling and pretty much everyone knew leaving Sacramento, and have known that for some time... it was just a matter of where, too. The Seattle situation was a real steal. Watch the documentary on it if you haven't. It was a failure of former ownership (Howard Schulz group that sold), a failure of government, lies of new ownership, and lies and a complete F'U from the NBA league office. Also, per wikipedia, Seattle owns the Supersonics name and branding http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_Thunder
