Nearly two decades after the heartbreak of losing the SuperSonics, Seattle basketball fans may be on the verge of getting their team back. The NBA's Board of Governors is scheduled to vote March 24–25 on whether to formally pursue expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas — a first critical step toward growing the league to 32 teams and potentially restoring the beloved green-and-gold to the Pacific Northwest.
The vote would require 23 of the league's 30 governors to approve, allowing the NBA to open a formal bidding process for the two new franchises. Industry executives are projecting bids in the $7 billion to $10 billion range, with both Seattle and Las Vegas expected to rank among the league's top revenue-generating markets if admitted. If all goes according to plan, the new teams would begin play in the 2028–29 season.
For Seattleites, the excitement is inseparable from the pain of 2008, when then-owner Clay Bennett relocated the SuperSonics to Oklahoma City, where they were rebranded as the Thunder. The Sonics had played in the NBA since 1967 — winning the city's first major professional sports championship in 1979 — before a bitter dispute over the KeyArena lease paved the way for the move. Bennett paid $45 million to break the arena lease early, with a provision requiring an additional $30 million if an NBA team did not return by 2013. It didn't. Fans were furious, and the wound never fully healed.
Now, hope is building again — and this time it feels real. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has repeatedly named Seattle as a target market, telling media during All-Star Weekend, "We will make decisions in 2026." Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson has already held a phone call with Silver expressing the state's interest. U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a longtime Sonics advocate, called 2026 "a very big year for sports in Seattle" and said she hopes the league moves quickly. KeyArena, meanwhile, has undergone a $930 million renovation and reopened in 2021 as Climate Pledge Arena — already home to the NHL's Kraken and the WNBA's Storm.
The fan base never went quiet. The late Kristopher Brannon, known affectionately as "Sonics Guy," became a symbol of that sustained passion — keeping the cause alive for years through public advocacy near Tacoma's streets until his death in 2021. His legacy lives on in a Tacoma mural and in the hearts of fans who never stopped wearing their green and gold.
There are still significant hurdles — expansion fees, revenue sharing among current owners, and conference realignment are all in play. But for the first time in 18 years, the path back looks real. "If they vote in favor of expansion, you will see a headline that says, 'Seattle is going to be offered an expansion franchise,'" ESPN analyst Shams Charania said Monday. And as part of the original relocation agreement, if a team does return to Seattle, the name SuperSonics comes with it. For a fan base that never stopped believing, that headline can't come soon enough.