There is an alternate universe in which Seattle never loses the SuperSonics, and Kevin Durant is remembered as one of the most legendary athletes in Seattle professional sports history. Of course, this is not how we experienced the events. Instead, Durant spent one season in Seattle, winning Rookie of the Year, before the SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder in 2008. Durant spent the next eight years of his career in Oklahoma City, where he had an NBA Finals appearance in 2012, three more Western Conference Finals appearances, won the MVP Award in 2014, and was named to five consecutive All-NBA First Teams from 2010 to 2014.
And to think that all of this could have happened in the Emerald City, putting Durant in contention for the title of best SuperSonic of all time. Ray Allen, Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Jack Sikma, Dale Ellis, and Spencer Haywood are among the current players on the list.
Spencer Haywood may well be regarded as the first great Seattle Supersonic. Haywood averaged 24.9 points and 12.1 rebounds per game over his five seasons in Seattle, earning four All-Star selections and two top ten MVP finishes before being transferred to the New York Knicks in 1975. Haywood still adores Seattle, despite being traded from the team. So much love, in fact, that he and Durant appear to have recently discussed NBA expansion and moving the Sonics back to Seattle.
“Me and Durant are still discussing Seattle. “We discussed it at the All-Star game,” Haywood told Jake Uitti of HoopsHype. “I can’t go any farther; there’s some secret thing going on that I can’t discuss because it’s private. But I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw him wearing a Sonics uniform. I attended the All-Star game with him and his mother, as well as everyone else. “I am just saying.”
To say the least, this is overly ambitious and unrealistic. Durant is already 35 years old, with roughly 45,000 regular-season and playoff minutes under his belt. While the NBA’s impending expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle may be the league’s worst-kept secret, nothing has been announced or confirmed on that front. Realistically, I can’t see the NBA expanding before the 2027-28 season, when KD would be 39 years old.
Durant has already shown interest in joining the ownership group that will eventually bring professional basketball back to the Pacific Northwest, and I have no doubt that this will be considered. KD has lofty goals off the court, and owning a professional sports team is never a bad idea.