The Sonics Are Coming Back—Maybe. NBA Voting on Seattle Expansion for 2028-29
Hold onto your green and blue jerseys, Seattle fans. The NBA is about to vote on bringing expansion basketball back to the Emerald City, with the league set to explore adding teams in Las Vegas and Seattle at the Board of Governors meetings on March 24-25. If everything breaks right, we're talking 2028-29 for the SuperSonics' return.
A league source confirmed to KOMO News that the NBA will vote on whether to begin exploring expansion exclusively in these two cities, with franchise bids projected to land somewhere in the $7 billion-to-$10 billion range—though the league emphasized no official timeline for a final decision is set. For context: the last time the NBA expanded to Charlotte in December 2002, the franchise tipped off in 2004. So yeah, we're looking at a multi-year process here.
What a Bid Actually Looks Like
This isn't just about handing over a check. Any bid would need to include marketing, ticketing, and digital rights plans. There's also speculation about facility locations—insiders have long pegged the old Northgate Mall site (currently home to the Kraken Community Iceplex and owned by Herb Simon's family, who also own the Indiana Pacers and Indiana Fever) as a potential spot for a new NBA headquarters.
Here's how the voting works: in both rounds, 23 of the NBA's 30 governors must sign off. The first vote explores the process itself. If bids clear the necessary threshold, there could be a final vote later in the year to actually close the expansion and push the league to 32 teams.
Local Leaders Are Already All In
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson didn't wait around—he reached out to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver before the Super Bowl to express interest in bringing the Sonics home. They had what the governor's office called "a good conversation," initially described as a phone call but later clarified as a ZOOM meeting. According to Ferguson's spokesperson Brionna Aho, the governor grew up attending Sonics games and even went to Lenny Wilkens' basketball camp.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell is pumped too. Speaking before the championship parade, she pointed to Seattle's recent sports momentum—the Kraken, the Torrent, the Mariners coming close—as proof the city's ready. "We want our Sonics back, and we're glad that the NBA is finally saying it's going to start a process," she said.
The clock's ticking. Seattle's been without NBA basketball since 2008, when the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder. Climate Pledge Arena is ready and waiting.
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This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.