NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has indicated that the league will start considering expansion "in earnest" come this fall, with an eye towards reintroducing a team in Seattle, a city with a storied basketball history that's been NBA-less since the Supersonics packed up for Oklahoma City in 2008, as reported by KOMO News; Even if the Board of Governors gives it a thumbs up, assembling a team is a process with many moving parts, taking time to find the right market and ownership groups, which could span months.
Speaking of own, an ownership bid for the potential Seattle franchise is expected to come from billionaire David Bonderman, that's not a conflict of interest because he's ditching his stakes in the Boston Celtics, since the NBA doesn't do two-timing when it comes to team ownership, a transaction likely triggered by the Celtics' owners putting the team on sale last month, a little detail divulged by The Chronicle.
The logical home for the new/old team is Climate Pledge Arena, indicate hands-down the ready-for-NBA action venue that has seen a jaw-dropping $1.15 billion in renovations, including $50 million specifically for those NBA touches—like an NBA-spec locker room—ready to make its hardwood floors vibrate to the dribble of a basketball again, information supported by KING 5.
Even if Seattle's search for a hoops homecoming ends positively, we're looking at a years-long timeline before a team is on the court—composing a new roster, constructing the infrastructure of the organization, that's no weekend DIY project; think more along the lines of the timelines followed by Seattle's other pro sports newbie, the Kraken, which hit the ice three years post-approval, users of the same arena they'll be sharing with their basketball brethren and offered up by KOMO News.
Seattle's new franchise is poised to inherit the Supersonics' legacy—name, logo, colors and all thanks to an agreement made way back when the team originally departed, as The Chronicle highlights.
