On Friday night, the Los Angeles Clippers narrowly defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 101-99 in a preseason matchup. But for this game, what mattered wasn’t so much the “what” as the “where.”
Friday marked the third edition of the Rain City Showcase, with the Clippers hosting a preseason game in Seattle. The game, sponsored by Pokémon, brought the NBA back to Seattle 16 years after the SuperSonics were abruptly moved to become the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For one night only, it was like the Sonics were back in town: Seattle packed into Climate Pledge Arena, a sold-out crowd spotted with green and yellow (and Pikachu hats handed out as giveaways). Kids who weren’t even born when the Sonics were moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City were wearing Sonics jerseys — those of Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp, Kevin Durant. With five minutes left in the game, a chant of “SuperSonics” was heard on one side of the arena. Signs throughout the crowd called for the NBA to bring the team back.
The biggest cheers of the night had nothing to do with either team, but with the former Sonics in the building: A slew of Sonics legends — Payton, Kemp, Detlef Schrempf, Dale Ellis, Rashard Lewis, George Karl, Sam Perkins, Luke Ridnour, as well as former Sonics coach Lenny Wilkens — were at the game and received a hearty response from the crowd.
Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas and Brandon Roy rounded out a who’s who of Seattle basketball stars, and former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll also received a loud cheer of his own. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Washington Governor Jay Inslee were also in the building, demonstrating a show of solidarity from the state and the city.
On the concourse, Sarah Parks, a self-described “lifelong Sonics fan” who watched the team from the early ’90s until the move, was there with her mother and brother, Karen and Sam. All three were decked out in Sonics gear at Sarah’s urging, despite the fact that they were rooting for the Trail Blazers, having “adopted” the team in the Sonics’ absence.
Sarah, who said she was “devastated” when the team was moved, has been to all three of these preseason games at Climate Pledge Arena. “I’ll keep coming to them until we get ’em back,” she said.
For many fans, players and coaches alike, bringing the NBA back to Seattle is a no-brainer. Several active players have said that they are all for giving Seattle an expansion bid, with Durant, who spent his rookie season with the Sonics before the move, being of bringing the NBA back to the city.
Ahead of the matchup, Clippers and Trail Blazers coaches Tyronn Lue and Chauncey Billups both praised the Seattle environment, saying that they loved coming to Seattle as players. The two coaches also cited Seattle’s other fan bases — the Seahawks, the Storm — as evidence of the city’s passion for sports.
“These fans are passionate, they understand the game of basketball, and we miss that,” Lue said.
“This is obviously a deserved city and market,” Billups said. “It makes the most sense.”
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Seattle-based company Microsoft and a resident of the Seattle area, shouted out the city in a speech before the game, saying that “Seattle’s got the best basketball fans in the world.”
Manny and Laura Ochoa, who were there with their kids Quentin and Elena, were some of those fans, decked out in their own Sonics gear on the concourse and itching for basketball to return to the area.
Manny, who grew up in LA and rooted for the Clippers, said that he wanted the NBA back in Seattle so that it could become a regular part of their life, with games on Wednesdays and $25 nosebleed tickets like he had when he was growing up. When the Sonics left, he said, “I felt a void in our hearts.”
Manny and Quentin went to last year’s Rain City Showcase, and decided to bring the rest of the family this year. Now, Manny and Laura are hopeful that the team will come back — and he’s passing down a love for the Sonics to his kids.
“And what do we tell people about the Sonics?” Manny asked Elena, who wore a Payton jersey that went down to her knees. With some prompting from her mother, Elena relays the message: “Bring them back.”
Most fans weren’t so much here for the Clippers and Trail Blazers as they were for the return of NBA basketball in the city.
“We want basketball in our lives. We miss our team, so when a real basketball game is happening in Seattle, people show up,” Cathy Jimenez said before the game, while on the concourse with her husband Jacobo. They are longtime Sonics fans, and they bought the tickets earlier on Friday after realizing that the event was happening.
It was Jacobo’s first time, and Cathy’s second, inside the brand-new Climate Pledge Arena, which was completed in 2021. The new stadium successfully attracted an NHL expansion team, the Seattle Kraken, and was also built with the hope of attracting an NBA expansion bid.
The proposal to build a new stadium was one of the major sticking points that led to the team getting moved, with owner of the now-Oklahoma City Thunder Clay Bennett saying that the city needed to redo the arena in order to keep the team in Seattle. But, the way Jacobo and many Seattle fans see it, that was just an excuse for Bennett and former NBA commissioner David Stern to relocate the team.
The Jimenezes agree that the stadium is “beautiful” and will serve well for a future NBA team. But for now, they will have to settle for watching other cities’ teams.
“I like the arena and I’m really hoping that we don’t have to wait too much longer to watch our Sonics here, because that’s what I really want,” Jacobo said.
Friday’s game came down to the wire, with the Trail Blazers getting a game-tying free throw with four seconds left. The arena was rocking as Kai Jones hit a go-ahead dunk off an alley-oop from Jordan Miller with just two seconds left, leading the Clippers to the win.
“It’s just good to see, it just tells you how much this city wants a basketball team and they deserve it,” Lue said after the game. “They showed you that tonight again.”