![]() Sam Schulman owned the team from its 1967 inception until 1983. It was then owned by Barry Ackerley until 2001, when it came under ownership of Basketball Club of Seattle, headed by Starbucks chairman emeritus, former president and CEO Howard Schultz. On July 18, 2006, Basketball Club of Seattle sold SuperSonics and its Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) sister franchise Seattle Storm to Professional Basketball Club LLC, headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett. The NBA Board of Governors approved the sale on October 24, 2006, and finalized it seven days later, at which point the new ownership group took control. After failing to find public funding to construct a new arena in the Seattle area, SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City before the 2008–09 season, following a $45 million settlement with the city of Seattle to pay off their existing lease at the KeyArena at Seattle Center before it expired in 2010. Seattle SuperSonics played their home games at KeyArena (originally the Seattle Center Coliseum) for 33 of the franchise's 41 seasons in Seattle. In 1978, the team moved to the Kingdome, which they shared with Major League Baseball (MLB) team Seattle Mariners and National Football League (NFL) team Seattle Seahawks. SuperSonics returned to the Coliseum in 1985, and temporarily moved to Tacoma Dome for the 1994–95 season while the Coliseum was renovated and renamed KeyArena. Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA championship in 1979. The franchise won Western Conference titles in 1978, 19 and six divisional titles-their last being in 2005-five in the Pacific Division and one in the Northwest Division. The franchise attained a 1,745–1,585 (.524) regular season win–loss record, as well as a 107–110 (.493) playoff win–loss record during its time in Seattle. Both marks would rank in the top half of the NBA's all-time standings. Settlement terms of a lawsuit between the city of Seattle and Clay Bennett's ownership group stipulated SuperSonics' banners, trophies and retired jerseys remain in Seattle the nickname, logo and color scheme are available to any subsequent NBA team that plays at KeyArena subject to NBA approval. Tom Meschery, Bob Rule (SuperSonics) and Wilt Chamberlain ( Philadelphia 76ers) in 1967 Franchise history 1966–1968: Team creation The SuperSonics' franchise history, however, would be shared with Thunder. On December 20, 1966, Los Angeles businessmen Sam Schulman and Eugene V. Klein, both of whom owned the AFL side San Diego Chargers, and a group of minority partners were awarded an NBA franchise for Seattle, the first major-league sports franchise in the city. Schulman served as the active partner and head of team operations, and named the team SuperSonics as a nod to the city’s ties to the aviation industry, with Boeing's having recently been awarded a contract for an SST project. Seattle SuperSonics began play on Octothey were coached by Al Bianchi, and included All-Star guard Walt Hazzard and All-Rookie Team members Bob Rule and Al Tucker. The expansion team debuted in San Francisco with a 144–116 loss in their first game against Golden State Warriors. On October 21, the Seattle team's first win came against the San Diego Rockets in overtime 117–110, and SuperSonics finished the season with a 23–59 record. 1968–1974: The Lenny Wilkens era īefore the start of the next season, Hazzard was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for Lenny Wilkens, who brought a strong, all-around game to the SuperSonics, averaging 22.4 points, 8.2 assists and 6.2 rebounds per game for SuperSonics in the 1968–69 season. ![]() Rule improved on his rookie statistics with 24.0 points per game and 11.5 rebounds per game. SuperSonics won only 30 games and Bianchi was replaced by Wilkens as player/coach during the off-season. Wilkens and Rule both represented Seattle in the 1970 NBA All-Star Game, and Wilkens led the NBA in assists during the 1969–70 season. In June 1970, the NBA owners voted 13–4 to work toward a merger with the ABA Schulman, a member of the ABA–NBA merger committee in 1970, was eager to merge the leagues and he publicly announced if the NBA did not accept the merger agreement, he would move SuperSonics to the ABA he also threatened to move his soon-to-be ABA team to Los Angeles to compete with Lakers. The Oscar Robertson suit delayed the merger and SuperSonics remained in Seattle. ![]()
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