Kevin Durant is one of just two active NBA players (the other being Jeff Green) who have played for the Seattle SuperSonics, which makes him uniquely qualified to speak about a potential NBA return to the Emerald City. With a massive $700 million renovation project for Key Arena cleared by the city, and an NHL team on the way “sooner than later,” the next logical discussion is the return of an NBA franchise.
And with the Golden State Warriors taking on the Sacramento Kings in a preseason game in Seattle on Friday night, there will be plenty of talk about an NBA return to Seattle. Durant, in fact, has already been asked about the idea, and he was all for it. Via ESPN:
“For sure,” Durant told ESPN. “Most definitely. It’s a basketball city. It’s a sports town. … They have a good representation of basketball in the NBA from Seattle-born players, Washington state-born players. And I feel like that whole brand deserves an NBA team. Just like the Golden State Warriors deserve a team or the Los Angeles Lakers deserve a team, Seattle is that same way. [A team] has that same type of impact in the community. So [we have] a lot of time in life before this whole thing is over, and I’m sure we’ll see a team before it’s time.”
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr agreed, saying “[the NBA] should be in Seattle, it’s sort of a no-brainer.” And really, it would be hard to find someone who doesn’t think that Seattle should have an NBA team. It’s a great basketball city, a big media market and would add another West Coast team to balance out the geography of the league.
The problem, of course, is there’s only two ways to get one: expansion or re-location. Right now, that just doesn’t seem to be in the plans. Should the league ever consider expansion, or if a team moves from their current city, there’s no doubt that Seattle will be at the top of the list to get a team. It just might be a while before that happens.
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