Commentary: 15 years after Sonics left, there’s more hope than ever – and a lot of revisionist history

Today marks the 15th Anniversary of the Sonics departure – considered one of the worst days in Seattle sports history. And I bring it up to focus on two aspects: one good and one bad. 

First, the good. From everything we’re hearing, not only is Seattle in position to be a frontrunner for a future NBA team, league commissioner Adam Silver is finally openly talking about expansion being inevitable, that Seattle is a possibility, and once the league’s new media rights package is done, the league could begin the expansion process. 

That could be as soon as next summer, and who knows – Seattle could have an NBA team playing alongside the Seattle Storm and Seattle Kraken in Climate Pledge Arena as early as October 2025.

And the rhetoric we hear from Tod Leiweke – someone who’s come through in so many spectacular ways when it comes to Seattle sports – most recently with the Kraken – is full of confidence. 

“We’re ready,” Leiweke recently told Fox 13 in an exclusive interview. “The building was built for it. The locker room is ready to go. The economics are built for it. Our ownership is committed to it.” 

That’s exciting, albeit frustrating it’s taken this long for the NBA to openly acknowledge expansion and Seattle in the same breath. 

But to me, it’s still not as maddening as the revisionist history I’ve run into fairly frequently over the last few years from out-of-town fans – this idea that Seattle lost the Sonics because the fans just didn’t care.

It has become the most shameful and contemptible notion I’ve encountered during my time here. A throw-away line, erroneously passed off as common knowledge by your everyday NBA fan: that fan apathy somehow led to the Sonics departure. 

I’m mostly preaching to the choir here, aside from recent transplants who have been exposed to this blatant lie. And to them I’d say, “Name me a current local franchise that lacks significant fan support despite the current saturation of teams in this market. You can’t find one, because Seattle sports fans care. They show up. They show out.”

And for me at least, even after the NBA returns, there will be no remorse for the key individuals who played roles in ripping the hearts out of fans who had supported a team for 41 years – and depriving close to a generation of men’s pro basketball in this city. 

I take this 15-year anniversary to set the record straight once again: That the Sonics left because of a former owner in Howard Schultz who sold out this city for his own personal gain, to the tune of an estimated $80 million in profit. A buyer in Clay Bennett who blatantly lied to the team’s fans about keeping the Sonics here. A commissioner in David Stern who allowed it to happen, and seemingly held a grudge after his unsuccessful visit to the state legislature. 

And a Seattle mayor in Greg Nickels who cowardly buckled and settled with Bennett, hours before a final ruling by a U.S. District judge in the city’s lawsuit, in an attempt force the team to continue playing in Seattle for two more years. Two years that, given the upcoming recession, might have actually helped keep the team here for good.

Tonight, on this bittersweet anniversary, I’m much more optimistic about the Sonics return than I’ve ever been before. 

But what will always stick with me is how unnecessary the last 15 years have been – the hurt felt amongst devoted fans – and way the Sonics departure has been incorrectly characterized by so many who really have no idea how it all went down.