Thunder Will Transfer History to SuperSonics If Seattle NBA Team Returns in Future

This reportedly would include the 1979 title.

Oct 10, 2023; Seattle, Washington, USA; Fans hold a flag for the Seattle Supersonics during the fourth quarter of a game between the Utah Jazz and LA Clippers at Climate Pledge Arena. / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Seattle SuperSonics' 2008 relocation to Oklahoma City ranks among the messiest sports relocations in the very messy history of sports relocations.

However, if the SuperSonics were to come back as an expansion team, it appears at least one of that move's wrongs would be righted.

The Oklahoma City Thunder would transfer its pre-relocation history to a hypothetical future Seattle expansion team, according to a Tuesday morning report from ESPN's Tim Bontemps, Kevin Pelton and Brian Windhorst. That would include the SuperSonics' much-mythologized 1979 title.

"Sources said if a team was to return to Seattle, the Thunder would cede the Seattle history back to the SuperSonics—just as the NBA's Charlotte Hornets reclaimed the Charlotte-era history of the New Orleans Pelicans when Charlotte switched from being the Bobcats to the Hornets in 2014," the three insiders wrote.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently stated the league would discuss expansion at some point this season, having hammered out new collective bargaining agreements and media rights deals since the beginning of 2023.

Per Bontemps, Pelton and Windhorst, Seattle and Las Vegas are leading candidate cities—while Mexico City, Montreal, Vancouver, Kansas City and Louisville could also garner consideration.

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