The Seattle SuperSonics were once the face of basketball in the Pacific Northwest. With awesome branding, competent management, and a rocking fan base, the franchise was highly valued and respected across the league… until they weren’t.
Back in 2008, the team relocated to Oklahoma City, marking the end of an era for Seattle basketball and breaking the hearts of thousands of loyal fans.
It remains to be seen if the Sonics will ever make a return, but people have really been thinking about what a potential resurrection would look like. On Twitter, one graphic designer lit up the internet with some simple concepts that brought the team back to life.
(full credit to Jake Pablo Media):
Should the NBA bring back the Seattle SuperSonics? #NBATwitter pic.twitter.com/suE9q0bk0m
— DOOM (@jakepablomedia) July 17, 2022
— DOOM (@jakepablomedia) July 17, 2022
Seriously, Jake has some talent, and his designs are amazing. It’s really no wonder why fans were going wild in the comments.
Unfortunately, the designs only strengthen the appetite for Sonics basketball — and now the question is, will it ever come to pass? Several league sources have spoken highly of the possibility, but former Sonics star Gary Payton outright believes it’s an inevitability.
“I felt like the world ended in Seattle,” said Payton. “Because that city and them fans don’t deserve that. They don’t deserve it. And I’ve been working very hard to get it back. We’re gonna try and get an expansion team and I think. The expansion team is gonna happen. I think with Adam Silver, he knows that we’re gonna add some teams and I think Seattle is one of them teams that he’s going to add and I think that they deserve it. As getting a new hockey team there as the Krakens right now and making the arena that they just built there. I think it’s something that the NBA has to look at. And then I think at the opening of the Krakens in NHL season that Adam Silver was there and he was in the facility. So I think it’s going to happen and when it happens it’s gonna be a great thing.”
Nobody can predict the future, and Seattle is not the only team in the running for an expansion team. Las Vegas, St. Louis, and even Montreal have been tagged as potential expansion cities.
But it’s hard not to think of the possibilities when you see Jake’s concepts. They really express the feel and culture of the community and look really cool while doing it.
