Gary Payton Puts Timeline on Possible NBA Expansion That Could Involve Seattle Team

The Hall of Fame guard is eager to see his old squad return to the NBA.

Gary Payton in 2013. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

Hall of Fame guard Gary Payton will always be associated with the Seattle SuperSonics, the team with which he found prodigious success from 1991 to 2003.

As it is, Payton nearly outlasted the franchise. He played his last game in the 2007 season with the Miami Heat, while the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City after the 2008 season.

Now, Payton—a junior college basketball coach in Alameda, Calif.—is a vocal proponent of bringing back the SuperSonics.

"I know they might bring in two expansion teams, it might look like Vegas and Seattle," Payton—who has intimated he wants to be involved with the new franchise—told ESPN's Jay Harris and Marc Spears on Courtside Tales Tuesday. "We're very excited. I think we're gonna get it back in the next three years—two, three years, (2026), (2027). It might be that soon."

Seattle's relocation was controversial at the time, although the Oklahoma City Thunder's wild on- and off-court success has papered over that slice of history.

It looks like the day may be coming when the NBA will right that wrong and return a team to a basketball-loving market.

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