On Friday night, the Los Angeles Clippers narrowly defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 101-99 in a preseason game. But for this game it wasn’t so much the ‘what’ that mattered 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 the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For just one night, it was like the Sonics were back in town: Seattle packed into Climate Pledge Arena, a sold-out crowd spotted in green and yellow (and Pikachu hats handed out as a giveaway). Kids who weren’t even born yet when the Sonics were moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City were wearing Sonics jerseys — those of Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and Kevin Durant. With five minutes to play, the chant of “SuperSonics” came from one side of the arena. Signs throughout the crowd called for the NBA to bring back the team.
The biggest cheer 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 got loud cheers. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Washington Governor Jay Inslee were also in the building, showing a show of solidarity from the state and the city.
In the hall, Sarah Parks, a self-described “lifelong Sonics fan” who watched the team from the early ’90s until the move, was present with her mother and brother, Karen and Sam. At Sarah’s insistence, the three of them were decked out in Sonics gear, despite rooting for the Trail Blazers, having ‘adopted’ the team during the Sonics’ absence.
Sarah, who said she was “devastated” when the team was moved, has been to all three preseason games at Climate Pledge Arena. “I’ll keep coming to them until we get them 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 they are all in favor of Seattle making an expansion bid, with Durant, who spent his rookie season with the Sonics before the move, wanting to bring the NBA back to town.
Before the game, Clippers and Trail Blazers coaches Tyronn Lue and Chauncey Billups both praised the Seattle environment and said they enjoyed 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 clearly a deserving city and market,” Billups said. “That makes the most sense.”
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Seattle-based company Microsoft and a Seattle-area resident, shouted out the city in a pre-game speech, saying, “Seattle has the best basketball fans in the world.”
Manny and Laura Ochoa, who were there with their children Quentin and Elena, were among those fans, decked out in their own Sonics gear in the concourse and eager for basketball to return to the area.
Manny, who grew up in LA and supported the Clippers, said he wanted the NBA back in Seattle so it could become a regular part of their lives, with games on Wednesdays and $25 nosebleed tickets like he had when he grew up. . When the Sonics left, he said, “I felt an emptiness in our hearts.”
Manny and Quentin went to the Rain City Showcase last year and decided to bring the rest of the family this year. Now Manny and Laura are hopeful that the team will return, and he’s passing on his love for the Sonics to his children.
“And what do we tell people about the Sonics?” Manny asked Elena, who was wearing a Payton sweater that reached her knees. At her mother’s insistence, Elena relays the message: “Bring them back.”
Most fans weren’t here so much for the Clippers and Trail Blazers as they were for the return of NBA basketball to the city.
“We want basketball in our lives. We miss our team, so when there is a real basketball game in Seattle, people show up,” Cathy Jimenez said before the game, as she was in the hall with her husband Jacobo. They are longtime Sonics fans and purchased the tickets earlier on Friday after realizing the event was taking place.
It was Jacobo’s first time, and Cathy’s second, in 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 in hopes of attracting an NBA team. expansion bid.
The proposal to build a new stadium was one of the major sticking points that led to the team relocating, with owner of the now Oklahoma City Thunder Clay Bennett saying the city would have to redesign the arena to keep the team in Seattle keep. . But as Jacobo and many Seattle fans see it, that was just an excuse for Bennett and former NBA commissioner David Stern to move the team.
The Jimenezes agree that the stadium is “beautiful” and will serve well for a future NBA team. But for now, they’ll have to settle for watching other cities’ teams.
“I love the arena and I really hope 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 tying free throw with four seconds left. The arena was turned upside down when Kai Jones hit a go-ahead dunk from an alley-oop from Jordan Miller with just two seconds left, leading the Clippers to victory.
“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 again tonight.”
