SEATTLE SUPERSONICS HISTORY 

Seattle SuperSonics, professional basketball team and one of seven teams in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The SuperSonics (also known as the Sonics) play in Key Arena in Seattle, Washington, and wear jerseys of green, gold, orange, and white. The team’s name refers to the jet-aircraft industry based in the Seattle area.

The SuperSonics entered the league in the late 1960s and experienced stretches of success in the 1970s and 1990s. The team advanced to the NBA Finals in 1978 and then won the 1979 NBA championship with a club that featured forward Jack Sikma and guards Dennis Johnson, Gus Williams, and Fred Brown. The SuperSonics put together a number of winning seasons in the early and mid-1990s, advancing to the NBA Finals in 1996 with a team led by forward Shawn Kemp and guard Gary Payton.

With the San Diego Rockets (now the Houston Rockets), the SuperSonics joined the NBA in the 1967-68 season as an expansion team. Lenny Wilkens became the team’s player-coach in 1969, and he and forward-center Spencer Haywood led the SuperSonics to their first winning season, a 47-35 mark in 1971-72.

After four years with Seattle, Wilkens was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 1973. A year later, the club hired former Boston Celtics star Bill Russell as head coach. Russell guided the team to its first two playoff appearances before Wilkens returned in 1977 as full-time head coach. In the 1977-78 season, six players on the Seattle roster averaged more than 10 points per game but fewer than 20 points per game. This balanced scoring was fortified by the SuperSonics’ tough defense and team play. In the playoffs the team unexpectedly advanced to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Washington Bullets in seven games. The SuperSonics’ attack looked much the same the next season, 1978-79. The team won the Pacific Division, marched through the playoffs, and in a rematch with the Bullets, won the NBA title in five games.

The SuperSonics recovered from an erratic seven-year period in 1986-87. That season the team featured three explosive forwards—Dale Ellis, Xavier McDaniel, and Tom Chambers—who each averaged more than 20 points per game. Despite the SuperSonics’ losing record in the regular season, the team upset the Dallas Mavericks and the Houston Rockets in the playoffs before falling to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

The SuperSonics retooled in the late 1980s with a cast of young players, notably Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. George Karl, a former San Antonio Spurs player, became head coach in 1992. He instituted a strong defense and a fast-paced offense. The team won more than 50 games in five consecutive seasons, 1992-93 through 1996-97, and reached the playoffs each year. In 1993 the team advanced to the Western Conference Finals, losing to the Phoenix Suns in seven games. The SuperSonics followed two first-round playoff exits in 1994 and 1995 by reaching the NBA Finals in 1996. There they lost to the Chicago Bulls.

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