|
The Seattle SuperSonics were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle, Washington that played in the Pacific and Northwest Divisions of the National Basketball Association from 1967 until 2008. After the 2007–08 season ended, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, and now plays as the Oklahoma City Thunder. Settlement terms of a lawsuit between the city of Seattle and Clay Bennett's ownership group stipulated the SuperSonics' banners, trophies and retired jerseys remain in Seattle; the nickname, logo, and color scheme are available to any subsequent NBA team; the SuperSonics' franchise history, however, would be shared with the Thunder.
The SuperSonics won the NBA Championship in 1979, and are one of four teams out of the six major-league men's professional sports franchises that have existed in Seattle: the Sonics, Mariners, Pilots, Seahawks, Sounders, and the Metropolitans have each won a league championship.
Sam Schulman owned the team from its 1967 inception until 1983. It was also owned by Barry Ackerley, and the Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz. On October 31, 2006, the SuperSonics were purchased by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. The sale was finalized and the new ownership group took control. After failing to find public funding to construct a new arena in the Seattle area, the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City before the 2008–09 season, following a $45 million settlement with the city of Seattle to pay off the team's existing lease at KeyArena in advance of its 2010 expiration.
|
