Sonics fans hopeful after NBA owner mentions Seattle and new franchise in same sentence
SEATTLE - Sonics fans are hopeful that comments from a recent interview with a current NBA owner could mean Seattle will get a new NBA franchise.
During an interview regarding his own team’s future, Glen Taylor, the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, addressed questions regarding the possibility of the team moving.
Seattle was brought up during the interview as a possibility. However, Taylor said the team would not move to Seattle. Instead, he said NBA owners talked previously about a new franchise team ending up in Seattle at the cost of about $2 billion.
"You get the sense that he let slip conversations that have been happening behind closed doors, and it’s more than just we’re considering expansion. There has been some nuts and bolts discussions about this," said Danny O’Neil, a host on 710 ESPN Seattle.
He says this is the most real it has felt that Seattle could get an NBA team since the Sonics left.
"What we have left yet to determine is the timeline, and who is going to own the team that’s here in Seattle because it sure seems like there is momentum on the leagues part, for the first time, to actually put a team in Seattle," he said.
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O’Neil says with this information from the Taylor interview coupled with the future opening of the Climate Pledge Arena, means things are looking good for the city to get a team.
"I’d go crazy. I’d be so excited," says Andrew Munson.
Munson works at Simply Seattle. He says the Sonics left town before he was 10 years old, but he still feels the void they created in Seattle sports.
It's a void many feel, he says, as folks from across the country come into Simply Seattle looking for Sonics gear more than 10 years after the team last played in the city.
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His hope is to wear one of the jerseys lining the shelves of the shop to an actual game sometime soon.
The interview with Taylor is far from anything official, and there is zero timeline on if and when any future information of this possibility could be announced.
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