Seattle Supersonics

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Seattle Supersonics

American basketball team

Also known as: Seattle Sonics

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July 20, 2026

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The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team that played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1967 to 2008. The franchise was based in Seattle for 41 years, during which it won three conference titles and one NBA championship in 1979. The team was known for players like Spencer Haywood, Gary Payton, and Shawn Kemp.12

In 2008, the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City and was renamed the Oklahoma City Thunder after failing to secure public funding for a new arena in Seattle. The Thunder went on to win an NBA championship in 2025. Seattle retained the rights to the SuperSonics' name and history in case a new NBA franchise is established in the city.13

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Kevin Durant
Early life and career
…and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the second overall pick of the 2007 NBA draft.
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…and was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the second overall pick of the 2007 NBA draft.
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Spencer Haywood
ABA play and lawsuit
…by signing with the league’s Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder) in March 1970. The NBA ruled the contract invalid. Seattle’s player-coach, Lenny Wilkens, questioned the league’s logic. “We’re not the ones who made him a pro,” he told Sports Illustrated magazine in January 1971. “The ABA made him a…
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…by signing with the league’s Seattle SuperSonics (now Oklahoma City Thunder) in March 1970. The NBA ruled the contract invalid. Seattle’s player-coach, Lenny Wilkens, questioned the league’s logic. “We’re not the ones who made him a pro,” he told Sports Illustrated magazine in January 1971. “The ABA made him a…
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Gary Payton
…began his career with the Seattle SuperSonics as a player whose defense—hardly the most glamorous skill—was his most well-defined ability. As quick as any guard in the league, Payton was an intense, nightmarish defender. Even as he evolved into a deadly playmaker and imaginative scorer, the nickname that stuck to…
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…began his career with the Seattle SuperSonics as a player whose defense—hardly the most glamorous skill—was his most well-defined ability. As quick as any guard in the league, Payton was an intense, nightmarish defender. Even as he evolved into a deadly playmaker and imaginative scorer, the nickname that stuck to…
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Howard Schultz
…the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics; he drew much local criticism after selling the team to a group that subsequently moved it to Oklahoma City. His books included Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul (2011; with Joanne Gordon). In 2019 Schultz floated the idea…
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…the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics; he drew much local criticism after selling the team to a group that subsequently moved it to Oklahoma City. His books included Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life Without Losing Its Soul (2011; with Joanne Gordon). In 2019 Schultz floated the idea…
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