Report: Seattle Mayor on Potential NBA Return: 'Pretty Optimistic'

The SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City following the 2007-08 season, but the NBA return to Seattle soon as the league considers expansion.

With NBA commissioner Adam Silver floating the idea of the expansion, plenty around the game have viewed the idea as an opportunity for Seattle to regain a franchise after losing the SuperSonics in 2008.

Count Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan among them.

On Thursday, Durkan told KING 5 TV in Seattle that she felt "pretty optimistic" about the idea that the Sonics could return after speaking with Silver by phone just before Christmas. Durkan said Silver "let it slip" that the league was exploring expansion and that Seattle would be at the top of the list.

"I've met him on a number of occasions,” Durkan said. “I actually was a guest of his at some games in New Orleans when I was down there for a conference ... it is very good news for the city of Seattle that they are thinking of an expansion team. And I was honest with him. He knows Seattle wants to be at the front of the line. We're where the team should be. But we will be respecting them as they move forward to their ownership because the [owners], you know, has to approve it."

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Given the economic fallout the pandemic has had on the league, adding two expansion teams could offer immediate relief via expansion fees. Durkan expressed the belief that the league could move sooner than expected.

"I think that him saying it publicly means that they are very seriously considering it, and if you look at how sports moves, I don't think it's going to be a long multi-year process," Durkan said. "I think it can be a shorter process than that, but it might be, you know, more than one year. I think first you got to get the ownership group in line. And they've got to decide what an expansion team price could look like. And how they choose the cities that it goes to."

In addition to the long history the Sonics had in the city, another factor in Seattle's favor is the soon-to-be-opened Climate Pledge Arena at Seattle Center, home of the WNBA's Seattle Storm and NHL expansion team Seattle Kraken. The arena was built with an NBA team in mind.

The league has set a target price range for expansion fees at $2.5 billion, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. Potential interested parties in joining an NBA ownership group include David Bonderman, the majority owner of the Kraken and a minority investor in the Boston Celtics, as well as Seattle native hedge fund manager Chris Hansen. Hansen attempted to purchase the Sacramento Kings and move them to Seattle in 2012.