The History of the Seattle Supersonics

The NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics were one of the most prominent Seattle sports teams, so much so that even after they were relocated to Oklahoma in 1998, many fans still supported them, collected memorabilia, and hoped to bring them back. But the Sonics have a history, like all our sports teams in Seattle. So this is the history of our Sonics.

On December 20, 1966, Sam Schulman and Eugene V. Klein, the owners of the San Diego Chargers football team, were awarded an NBA franchise for Seattle. This was the first major league sports franchise in the city. Schulman served as the active partner and named the SuperSonics after Seattle’s prominent aviation industry, led by Boeing. The Sonics joined the NBA in 1967. For their first three years, they were in the Western Division. When the team started, they played home games at KeyArena, which was known as Seattle Center Coliseum before it became a basketball arena. The Sonics began play on October 13, 1967. Their coach was Al Bianchi, and their team included ll-star guard Walt Hazzard. 

The following season, Hazard was traded for Lenny Wilkens, who was a good addition to the team. Wilkens played in the all-star game that year and was the 1971 all-star game MVP. In 1972, the Sonics had their first winning season at 47-35. In 1972, however, Wilkens was traded to the Cavaliers in an unpopular move. 

Bill Russell was the coach in 1974 and led the Sonics to the playoffs for the first time. In 1979, the Sonics won their first and only (so far) championship with Wilkens as coach. 

In October 1983, the team owner became Berry Arkley. The following year, Fred Brown, a great three-point shooter for the team, retired after 13 seasons with the Sonics. His jersey, number 32, was retired in 1986. After 1983, the Sonics began to decline. One of the very few Sonics highlights in the latter half of the 1980s was their appearance in the 1987 Western Conference Finals. 

Soon, the Sonics began a new era with the drafting of forward Shawn Kemp in 1989 and guard Gary Peyton in 1990. Coach George Karl, joining the team in 1992, helped the Sonics make regular runs in the playoffs. In the 1995-96 season, the Sonics posted a franchise-best regular season record of 64–18 and lost the NBA finals to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. 

At the end of the 1997-98 season, disagreements with management caused Karl to leave, and the team’s fortunes fell. In the 2002-03 season, All-Star Payton was traded to Milwaukee. That season marked the end of the Sonics' 11-year streak with a winning record, which was at the time the second-longest current run. The 2004-05 team won the organization's sixth division title under the leadership of Ray Allen, among others. They won 52 games that season. 

During the 2005 offseason, head coach Nate McMillan left the Sonics because the Portland Trail Blazers were offering a higher-paying job. The season after he left, the Sonics won only 35 games. In 2007, the Sonics used their second pick in the draft to select Kevin Durant from the University of Texas, who would go on to win Rookie of the Year, averaging 20.3 points per game. 

The Sonics, though, however good Durant was, still finished the 2007-08 season with a franchise-worst record of 20-62. It was their final season in Seattle because they were going to be relocated to Oklahoma after the owners and the city could not agree on building a new arena. During the Sonics' final home game, the Sonics chanted, “Save our Sonics.” There are rumors that the Sonics may return to the NBA in 2028.