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It finally happened, much to the disappointment and bitterness of former Seattle SuperSonics fans.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, the best team all regular season, avoided what would’ve been the greatest upset in NBA Finals history with a 103-91 win in Game 7 over the inspirational underdog Indiana Pacers. OKC’s triumph cannot be told without noting the Achilles rupture suffered by Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, who’d already been playing through a calf strain. The emotional devastation on his face is the cruelest of lasting memories for a player whose playoff run was nothing short of legendary, while the Pacers played some of the most eye-catching and logic-defying basketball in recent memory.
This is also the first time the Thunder have won a championship since Howard Schultz sold the Sonics to Clay Bennett, who moved the team to Oklahoma City in 2008. I don’t really need to rehash this story to those who’ve followed the Sonics or Seattle sports in general.
For those who haven’t paid attention to the NBA since the Sonics’ departure, the Thunder have made the playoffs 12 times in 17 seasons after leaving Seattle. Oklahoma City, home to zero other major sports teams, was handed a future contender that would reach the Western Conference Finals in 2011 and the NBA Finals by 2012. General manager Sam Presti started the rebuild during the final Sonics season and built a contender in next to no time. The current iteration of the Thunder is a potential dynasty in the making based on their extremely young core group of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (league MVP, Conference Finals MVP, and Finals MVP), Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, all of whom are under 26 years old. They’re also stocked with first-round picks for seemingly centuries thanks to Presti’s trades and have built out the rest of their roster with mostly undrafted and second-round gems, which in a two-round NBA draft is like a Day 3 NFL Draft pick. OKC’s elite, physical, turnover-forcing defense is subject to scrutiny over how much of their success is just uncalled fouls, an irony given the complaints that nobody plays any defense in the NBA anymore… and perhaps a callback to a certain Seahawks team we’ll talk about later.
In an alternate universe (in which everything somehow plays out the same way, which would’ve been nigh impossible, but stay with me), Sunday could’ve been the coronation of the first Sonics championship since 1979. We’d be looking at six combined titles between the Sonics and the WNBA’s Storm, who at least are still around and have their special place in Seattle sports lore.
And it got ripped away. A city with a rich basketball history lost its men’s team, (at the time) its only major league champion, and most consistently successful team. The Sonics only missed the playoffs three consecutive seasons twice: its final years in Seattle and its first seven years as an expansion franchise. Compare that to the Seahawks going nearly the whole of the 1990s without a playoff berth and the Mariners… well I mean we don’t want to open that book up, do we?
Mind you, Seattle is hardly unique and not even the third-most recent city to lose a major franchise to relocation. That doesn’t mean the wounds have healed, however. I can tell you as a Portland Trail Blazers fan television play-by-play voice Kevin Calabro, who’s been with the team since 2017, still occasionally says “Sonics” on the broadcasts. When ex-Blazers star Damian Lillard famously knocked out the Thunder (and inadvertently created a monster) in the 2019 playoffs, he said, “That was for Seattle.” The Sonics leaving meant a lot to the greater basketball community.
So how does this relate to the Seahawks?
Before the start of last season, I wrote about the importance of the 2005 Super Bowl team and how it rejuvenated a fanbase that wasn’t even consistently selling out the stadium for the better part of a decade. This came on the heels of what was ultimately the final Sonics postseason run and it was a thrilling experience to be a part of as a new Washington resident. As the Sonics faltered, the Seahawks won two more NFC West titles and reached the Divisional Round twice.
Then 2008 came along and everything fell apart for Seattle sports. The Seahawks went 4-12 in Mike Holmgren’s farewell season, the Sonics were awful and on their way out, the Mariners lost 100+ games for the first time in 25 years, the Washington Huskies football team went 0-fer, while the men’s basketball team finished below .500. You’d be hard pressed to find a worse singular year for a sports town than that.
Photo by Terrence Vaccaro/NBAE via Getty Images
While the Sounders would soon join Major League Soccer and immediately produce a quality product, times were generally tough to be a Seattle sports fan entering the 2010s. The Jim Mora “era” of Seahawks football was uniquely distasteful and the franchise was in need of a hard reset, with no guarantee of a quick fix.
Enter Pete Carroll. Enter John Schneider. Enter Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, Russell Okung, Golden Tate, Doug Baldwin, Richard Sherman, Bobby Wagner, Russell Wilson, and all of the other foundational pieces of an eventual powerhouse.
Grid View
If the 2005 team (and the other playoff seasons on either side of it) caused a fanbase reinvigoration, the 2012-2013 Seahawks sparked a fanbase expansion and city-changing revolution. Those Seahawks had an exciting, young franchise quarterback, a nationally popular superstar running back, and a punishing defense with a cool nickname and a hugely talented array of personalities all over the field. All coached by the most youthful “old” head coach there’s ever been. The Seahawks were a must-see national attraction and a ratings mega-draw locally.
When the Seahawks lost Super Bowl XL in Detroit, it would’ve been easier to play “Where’s Waldo?” finding Seahawks fans amid the wave of Pittsburgh Steelers terrible towels. They were few and far between going up against one of the most well-traveled fans in the NFL. Fast forward to February 2, 2014, in New Jersey and it sounded like a Seahawks home game against the Denver Broncos.
Once the clock reached triple zeroes, Seattle’s 35-year wait for a major men’s sports champion was over.
Holy shit, the best team and one of the all-time best defenses in America’s biggest sport is in Seattle, Washington.
It cannot be forgotten that the Seahawks almost moved a decade prior to the Sonics. Paul Allen rescued the ‘Hawks from a virtually certain relocation to Southern California. There’s a really grim alternate world where Seattle is the only top 20 media market without either an NFL or NBA team.
As we approach 50 seasons of Seahawks football, I think it’s worth contextualizing the magnitude of their Super Bowl win. It’s easy for us to lament the Seahawks not being the dynasty of the 2010s when they lost Super Bowl XLIX, and even easier to bemoan the zero playoff wins since 2019. Heck, we’re in the middle of moving on from that era and hoping Mike Macdonald can carve out his own great path to success. But 2013 was more than just the first Lombardi Trophy for the Seahawks. It was a triumph for a championship-deprived city in desperate need of a sports lift. I understand not every bygone Sonics fan is a Seahawks fan and vice versa, but it is human nature to root for your city. In the bigger picture, the Seahawks grew their local, national, and international network of fans, many of whom are reading this site right now, on their way to becoming Seattle’s undisputed No. 1 team.
I don’t begrudge anyone who’s grumpy over the Thunder’s championship. Call it a “stolen” ring or a title with an asterisk, it’s still a championship that could’ve been won at Climate Pledge Arena in a just world. But last night’s game inspired this article and, I suppose in a more reflective mood, made me more grateful about getting to witness what the Seahawks achieved. When the legacies of Messrs Carroll, Wilson, Lynch, Sherman, Wagner, Thomas, Chancellor, and others are written for years to come, the 2013 Seahawks need to be etched in stone for their cultural impact and significance in Seattle. They were the saviors in a city yearning for a winner and still reeling from the travesty of what transpired in 2008. As I wrote last year, Coach Holmgren elevated the Seahawks to new heights by creating a perennial playoff team, then Pete Carroll, John Schneider, and company shattered the glass ceiling like Kam Chancellor shattered Vernon Davis.
With all of that said… it’s time to bring back the damn Sonics.
