A few years back, while Kevin Durant and Team USA Basketball were competing in the Tokyo Olympics, he was asked during one of his postgame interviews. If he could redesign the new Seattle Supersonics jerseys, what would the new design look like?
Durant shared, “I would go to with the green throwback joints when they won the title with the Green Sonic over front.”
He is clearly referencing the 1979 Seattle Supersonics team that beat the Washington Bullets in seven games to capture the franchise’s first and only NBA Championship. The classic jersey design and color scheme are still one of the franchise’s most recognizable looks.
The resurfaced interview comes on the heels of last week’s announcement of the NBA Governors approving a vote to start exploring expansion options in Las Vegas and Seattle.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that each franchise will undergo a bidding process, with prices ranging from $7 to $10 billion.
After the news of the voting results, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, in a release statement, spoke about looking forward to meeting with bidding ownership groups.
“Today’s vote reflects our Board’s interest in exploring potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle – two markets with a long history of support for NBA basketball. We look forward to taking this next step and engaging with interested parties.”
“There is enormous instability in the world at the moment,” Silver said. “We may ultimately conclude for reasons completely out of our control that it’s not the right time to expand.”
During his press conference, Silver explained why the league had considered only Vegas and Seattle, for possible expansion at this time.
“I think Seattle and Las Vegas, in terms of their history and support of NBA basketball, are unique in terms of available markets in the U.S. right now,” he said. “No knock on any other markets. Those are just the markets we’re focused on.”
Since the announcement, former players such as Gary Payton and Sam Perkins have reacted to the news.
“I didn’t watch it, because I knew what was going on,” said Payton of the NBA’s announcement that the league would explore expansion exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle. “I just want the fans to understand in Seattle, you can be happy. It’s here, we just got to get the logistics out,” Payton said.
“Definitely, it’s a pivotal moment because of the long wait,” said Perkins, adding, “I’m glad that it’s happening, Seattle wants it and supports basketball, and just going off my past experience, it was rocking, it should be like that, there should be a team here because of the tradition we have.”
Current Seattle players, such as Paolo Banchero and Dejounte Murray, also weighed in.
“I think it’s been a long time coming for the city. I think everybody was pretty bummed out when they left. And since then it’s just been waiting and hoping that one day they will come back,” said Banchero.
“I’m sure with the news, everybody’s excited. I know I’m excited for all the kids growing up because Seattle’s a really big basketball city.”
“It’s a basketball city, basketball culture, so it’s mandatory I think that they get it back over there,” said Murray.
If both Vegas and Seattle bids are approved, both teams could join the league during the 2028-2029 season.
